Oil Leak help

[ratherbcamping]

i couldnt find the oil filter adapter rings at my favourite parts store, but im tryin a few others locally, (napa, etc) and the stealership only had them seperately for about 20 bucks for al three. (cdn $)

I just replaced the three o-rings on my 01 XJ. The first guy and the dealership told me the same thing, but I remember buying all three in together for my 96. Another guy that has been working there for 20+ years knew exactly what I wanted. It's part number 4720363 the list price is $6.05 and I paid $2.96 for all three.

 

[AIbandit]

the 81 dollar one is a permadry. supposedly rubber and metal inside it. should i bother to pop for the 81 dollar permadry???

i use them on my fox mustang ive never had a leak with them reused them once so far. =]

 

[jdelamater]

good gasket here for $30

http://www.autozone.com/R,APP687561/vehicleId,2633001/initialAction,partProductDetail/store,5052/partType,00524/shopping/partProductDetail.htm

That's the one! Go for it, you won't be sorry.

 

[amcinstaller]

i know this is an old thread, but today i replaced my valve cover gasket and oil filter adapter o rings. i took it in the bum 71 dollars for the permadry, but after seeing the cork gasket i flaked off the top of my 4.0, im glad i did. i found my o rings at the dealership, only place in town that had them. they were about 16 bucks altogether, and they werent available in a kit until 93 or 96. wierd. anyway, i got the gasket and o rings changed, and it was not too bad, little worse than i figured but not too bad at all honestly.

i let my jeep sit for a few days till i had the funds and time to do the changes. then today i swapped the new parts in, and headed down to the car wash. sprayed down the engine with the engine cleaner, low pressure, let it soak down, sprayed it off with just water after, high pressure but i stood back about 4 feet. gassed up and noticed a small puddle maybe 2 inches in the time it took to fill up. i cant handle any more leaks!!! what the hell now?? do i need to just drive it for a couple days to let the oil thats already leaked to drip down or is this probly new oil leaking??? although, the oil pressure damn near pinned the guage, highest its been ever so far.

so far ive replaced my RMS, oil pan gasket, valve cover gasket and oil filter adapter o rings. WHAT ELSE COULD IT BE???!?????

 

[jdelamater]

i know this is an old thread, but today i replaced my valve cover gasket and oil filter adapter o rings. i took it in the bum 71 dollars for the permadry, but after seeing the cork gasket i flaked off the top of my 4.0, im glad i did. i found my o rings at the dealership, only place in town that had them. they were about 16 bucks altogether, and they werent available in a kit until 93 or 96. wierd. anyway, i got the gasket and o rings changed, and it was not too bad, little worse than i figured but not too bad at all honestly.

i let my jeep sit for a few days till i had the funds and time to do the changes. then today i swapped the new parts in, and headed down to the car wash. sprayed down the engine with the engine cleaner, low pressure, let it soak down, sprayed it off with just water after, high pressure but i stood back about 4 feet. gassed up and noticed a small puddle maybe 2 inches in the time it took to fill up. i cant handle any more leaks!!! what the hell now?? do i need to just drive it for a couple days to let the oil thats already leaked to drip down or is this probly new oil leaking??? although, the oil pressure damn near pinned the guage, highest its been ever so far.

so far ive replaced my RMS, oil pan gasket, valve cover gasket and oil filter adapter o rings. WHAT ELSE COULD IT BE???!?????

Your oil pressure is pinning because of the leak. I say that only because when I stopped my leaks my pressure went from fluctuating rfom 40-80 down to 30-45 when it stopped.

When you switched the RMS, I assume you did not have any issues and the lip is facing the proper direction. Wipe down all your oild in the engine bay, on the oil pan and tranny and wait. You need to know where the heck it's coming from. Keep checking the back of your engine under the VC, as that's where it's easiest to miss the leak. Your oil filter adaptor is easiest to see if it leaks so just pay attention. Make sure everything is clear and then wait.

Initially, try retorquing everything. When you put your gaskets on, use black RTV. It's a bit redundant, but it ensures you are not letting anything get past them. Also, try a new oil pan plug. It's only $4 or so, so it can't hurt. I picked up one with a magnet, just in case any metal shards are floating around my oil.

Without more detail or pics it's hard to tell. Give more info and we can help more.

 

[amcinstaller]

hmmmm, well the best i can do for now for more detail is that i just went out to look at it this morning, the oil level is just above the add mark, despite me adding a liter last night before bringing it to wash. around the top of the engine, for what i can see, is dry. so thats better, but theres still a puddle probly 8 inches right below my bell housing, with a drop still clinging to it, and another smaller puddle, maybe 2 inches below my tranny crossmember. ill have to add oil today again, but oil is becoming more painful than gas right now, and thats no easy task either with gas prices.......

 

[jdelamater]

Wow, how the heck is it on your crossmember? Perhaps that is transfercase fluid? Check the color and consistency. It should be a much thicker fliud and lighter in color. I still have to replace my tcase seals.

For now, buy a case of oil at costco. I paid around $1.70/quart. Yea, worse than gas, but at least you don't require 20 gallons of oil too!

If it's on your bellhousing it sounds like it's still the RMS. When you changed it, did it get better, worse, or stay the same?

Keep in mind that the VC can leak down the back and simulate a RMS leak, so double check that. I know that tightening the rear bolts in my VC SUCKED. It was near impossible to get in there with eaither a socket or a wrench. Thus, run a rag by the back of your VC and check if it's clean. If not, clean it. Then, run it for a few minutes and continually monitor the back of the cover seeing if it's leaking. Luckily that's a much easier fix than dropping the oil pan again, as you know. Considering the size of your puddle, it won't take long to see if the back of the cover is leaking.

Once you've eliminiated the possibility of it being your VC, hop under and look at where the leak starts. If it is a line of oil coming down the front of the flywheel, right where your RMS went, you know what you have to do. Of course, no one likes dropping the damn oil pan again. Hopefully you have the felpro gasket for the pan, as you can reuse it. If you can find where it starts, perhaps it's something you can just gunk RTV onto to stop it.

Keep us updated.

 

[amcinstaller]

well, just checked the underside again now that im at work and drove it for about 15 mins. definately a substantial puddle there now. checked the VC, clean, still some oil around the back, but maybe just because i didnt get it cleaned enough when i washed it, the old VC gasket was definately leaking. ill wipe it with a rag today, and check that again. anyone know how tight to put the VC bolts? i dont want to strip them but i could maybe get another 1/4 turn out of them. when i replaced the rear main seal, i made sure to point the lip to the engine side, we didnt soak it in oil, but applied assembly lube to the "seating surface" and liberally wiped oil onto the "seal side". i did get the permadry gasket for my oil pan as well, so i think maybe my next stop is back to the stealership to get the double lip RMS.......:wow:

ouch! stealership doesnt have any idea about offset lip/double lip rear main seals....

 

[amcinstaller]

ok, definately NOT my valve cover OR oil filter adapter! i have replaced my rear main seal twice, but i doubt i could have screwed it up twice. it still leaks as bad as it did before, this is definately motor oil, NOT tranny or transfer case fluid, theyre both full. it drips on the ground from the bell housing, and the only thing i can think of is that maybe i could have got the oil pan gasket "lip" that goes around the rear main cap pinched in the wrong spot. i checked with my parts store this evening on the way home, and the only rms they stock is the double lip one. its got the main lip that is to point towards the front of the engine/jeep, and then a smaller, more pointed lip that runs around the edge that would be at the back of the engine/jeep. i doubt that if ive done it twice, doing it again is going to fix my problem. am i out to lunch on my theory of the oil pan rear half ring lip being off or is there something that i could be missing somehwere???

 

[dave92cherokee]

You should see my previous post. I had the EXACT same problem with oil as far back as the rear drive shaft dripping down and even on the driver side of the engine. I went to autozone and bought 3 cans of auto zone brand engine degreaser and covered everything under the hood, then crawled under neath and coated everything that had any trace of oil on it. Let that sit for about 5 minutes then hose it off with your water hose and let it dry real good. Since the engine isn't running and should be cold at the time this is being done there shouldn't be any oil leaking anywhere unless it's the drain plug or leaking from a bad gasket on the oil filter itself. Check the oil level and add if necessary then drive around the block a couple of times just to get the oil circulating good then go home and park it. Immediately crawl under and see if you can see any oil dripping from anything and try to trace it back if you can. On mine the massive oil leak I had (as in 12" puddle in 10 mins of sitting) was because the oil pressure sending unit which screws into the block just above the filter was bad. What happened was the metal part that screws into the block had broken loose of the plastic sensor housing but was still in one piece, which allowed the plastic part to spin freely of the metal. I went to auto zone and picked up a new one for $20 and installed it in the parking lot. when I got home no more leak, you'd be surprised at how much oil can be spewn out of the pressure sending unit when it's running.

 

[amcinstaller]

alright, im definately sure that its that damned rear main seal again. heres what ive done so far, starting from the top of the engine:

valve cover gasket
oil filter adapter o rings
oil filter
checked oil pressure sending unit, dry as a bone
oil pan gasket
rear main seal, but apparently i did it wrong.

in addition to anything mentioned in the FAQs section, does anyone have any fool proof strategies about going about this, im at wits end with this damn jeep, and im starting to wonder if the stroker project motor for my other car is really the way i want to go after all. my parts store has the felpro one with the main lip that points towards the engine, and another lip that points straight up, contacting the crank. is this the double lip seal that is mentioned on the site??

 

[Gerr]

get a oem seal they work the best

 

[BillBraski]

I did a RMS on my long time 92 XJ and my "new" 93 XJ 4.0. I used the Fel-Pro seals on both and have zero leaks after a few months with mobil 1 HM. The thing that I think can trip people up is the little things when doing this, like soaking the new seals in oil, applying RTV to the seal ends (not too much and not touching the crankshaft) and installing the lip facing the engine. If you screw up any of these, it could leak a little, or lots of oil. A old timer told me the idea of a rear seal is when the engine has oil pressure, the oil from the rear main will push into the lip, sealing it. Unless your crankshaft has a groove in it, you souldn't need anything other than a $14 Fel-Pro seal. Agian, I think its all about not rushing the job and doing the small things right. I did my 93 rear seal in 3 1/2 hours on a lift with no problems.

 

[BillBraski]

Also, on both me jeeps there was a metal strap that goes across the rear main section outside the oil pan that bolts to the inside bolts that are one size larger. And, I would think if the oil pan gasket was installed right, but then it slips out a little of the rear, that MIGHT look like a rear main leak.

 

[amcinstaller]

alright, thanks for the tips! i think i will get the felpro one, simply because it does have the secondary lip though. the soaking in a bowl of oil before install, what does that do? does it swell the seal a bit before install?? i didnt soak it last time, could this be my problem? ill be doin the job in my driveway this time, level, but means ill only have a couple of jackstands and a jack. tall enough to do the job though. so how long should i soak my seal this time then?? overnight, a few hours, an hour, less?? and i was thinking this time to also use just a touch of rtv on the corners of my oil pan gasket to hold it up and in place so i know theres no moving and gaps to cause problems later. this is the rubber/metal oil pan gasket, will that cause problems??