Bigmj

The 2.5 has a 1 piece rear main seal. So dropping the tranny is required on them

Alex1992

whats the elapsed time about to do this job? ive heard many different estamations.

metoo

Just from looking under my 2001 XJ auto, the mechanic said I needed a new rear main seal AND a front pump seal on the tranny. I think he thought he would have to remove the tranny to replace the rear main and in doing so, should replace the front pump seal too. What are the chances that the front pump seal is leaking?

muddeprived

Very little. It's most likely the rear main seal causing the mess and could also be the valve cover leaking down the backside. Tell him he can do the rear main with just popping off the pan.

5-90

Fair to middlin' - but you'd note transmission fliud as well.

He does not have to remove the transmission to service the RMS on the 6-242 - it's a two-piece seal. And, the "front pump seal" could actually be one of two seals - but it's most often the seal around the torque converter snout (the other "front pump seal" is a very large O-ring around the front pump housing, that seals it to the transmission case. No relative motion there - if it fails, it's usually because it was scuffed during installation and you know it straight away. Replacing the T/C snout seal does require removal of the transmission - the torque converter has to come out.)

Dugualla

5-90, just reading through information on rear mains here because I have a a constant drop of oil clinging to my bell housing (oil, not tranny fluid). Thanks for the information in this and your other post, will make the job easier when I have to do it. I have a little top end noise so I intend on pulling the valve cover and cleaning it, replacing the PVC, etc and if I still have the drop clinging there after replacing the valve cover gasket I will go ahead and change the rear main.

On another note, how difficult is the front main on these beasts?

5-90

Not terribly. If you're over 150-180Kmiles, consider changing the harmonic damper as well - since you'll have it off anyhow. In my experience, the typical harmonic damper (the two-part version found on most vehicles) is good for 200K - on average - at best.

Kyle42

So exactly what parts are needed to replace the seal and is there anything else that should be taken care of when this is being done?

x91j

patients. and be very careful with it i cracked my block

A735263

Sup guys..

I just did this project on my 88 Cherokee over the weekend, so I figured I'd post my experience with it. Sorry if it seems kind of basic.. I'm pretty technically inclined, but not very technically experienced. (I'm an IT, not mechanic).

So the first problem I ran into was with the oil pan. The guide says it fits out between the bell housing and the axle, but that wasnt my experience with it. The pan got stuck between the two, lacking about 3/4 inch clearance. The pan was just too deep. I did not remove the wheels, but I did have the Jeep up on a lift and was standing underneath it, so I found no benefit to removing them. I did finally get it out, but in order to do so, I had to twist the forward(shallow) end towards the driver front tire and push it up into the empty space there, then take the rear passenger side corner out first. I was still missing 1/4 inch clearance for the other corner, but just yanked it out. The other problem I had was that at that angle, the oil pickup got stuck on some inner lip/ridge inside the pan, so I had to reach up in and tweak it around to get it out. Whole thing took me about 2 hours from start to getting the pan off. Probably because I'm not that good at it lol.

Once I had it out, removing the old gasket (if you can call it that) from the block and pan was the hard part. Fortunately, whoever owned the jeep before me didn't put a new gasket on the pan, just squeezed some silicone around the edges. Though I realized that they probably didn't put a new one on because the old one, which was prolly the original gasket, was so hardened on in most spots. The guide was right on about this being the real work.

Getting the rear bearing cap bolts off was easy using an air wrench, but getting the cap off took some muscle, as it was hardened to the block. I pulled it off, and took out the bottom half of the seal, which was again prolly the original RMS, was as hard as steel. All the rubber cracked as I pried it out. The top half of the seal was almost impossible. I tried getting it out as the guide suggested, but it just wasn't budging. Finally, I was able to get it out by breaking the rubber around the guide wire on one side, and then using needlenose pliers with vice-grips around the handle to yank it out. The seal crumbled there too, so I used some pipe cleaners to clear it out. I don't know if pulling it out this way scratched anything up, but so far so good.

When I went to put it all back together, I ran into another problem.. The metal plate (starter plate? I don't know what it is) that is between the bell housing an block caused me some heartache. It was a 2-piece plate, and I took off the bottom half while getting out the oil pan, but the top half is what caused me problems. I didn't notice while taking the pan out, but it (the oil pan) has a curled lip on the rear edge that I guess fits under that top plate? Anyway, there was no effing way I could get it in there, and frankly I'm surprised I got it out. I was about 1/4 inch from getting it up behind that plate. Finally, I lined up the oil pan and screwed in the front 4 bolts, then screwed in one on each side all the way towards the rear, and was finally able to get the last 2 in at the plate, though the edge didn't really look like it was under the plate.

Anyway, so far so good.. I'm glad I did it, because I learned a lot and it really helped my confidence in my ability to handle some repairs.. In the future though it's hard to say if I'd do it again.. At least not in the manner in which I did it this time.

Having never removed a transmission from a vehicle, I have no idea how difficult or time consuming it is.. (although I'm sure it is both) but next time I would consider it as a viable alternative. Getting the pan out was a pain, and getting the old rock hard seal out was even worse.

Given the jeep has 250k miles, and was (evidently) not well maintained.. A lot of these problems could probably be specific to me. Anyway.. Thanks for writing the guide!

Northwoods Snowman

I did this a month or so ago but never got around to providing my notes.


Anyway, I don't have a lift so my pan was hard to get out. Here's what I did.

• Remove the top end of the steering stabilizer (or the drag link if you can get it off the pittman arm; I didn't have a puller)
• Unbolt the bottom of the shocks
• Unbolt the lower end of the trac bar
• Unbolt the transmission from the cross member and jack up the transfer case with a floor jack and a piece of wood just far enough to get trans mount bolts to clear the cross memeber.
• I can't remember if I used it in my final set up, but at one point I used the spare tire jack to push the axle away from the frame rail. Don't think I used it once I got everything disconnected, but I just don't remember.

Removing the stuff on the front allows the axle to hang lower, and jacking the transmission up gives just enough clearance at the bell housing.

NOTE FOR 2000 OWNERS: You need a main seal for an '01. Autozone and Oreilly both have the felpro seals for the 2000 listed as being the earlier seal with the "wings" on the seal half that goes in the bearing cap. The 2000's do not have these wings! I ended up cutting them off when I did mine as the correct seals are a secial order and about $30. The FMS provides specific direction on how to seal the bearing cap surfaces with sealer.

findaname

Well, everyone sounds pretty confident that "all" XJs have two-piece rear oil-seals. However ... when I get onto the net to order from the Race Pages website, I see that they stock Fel-Pro rear seals which are two-piece for 4 Litre engines and one-piece for 2,5 Litre engines. Maybe it is not as straight forward as some people think.

Has anyone, anyone?, changed the rear seal on a 2,5 litre diesel??? I would love to know and be sure about the seal which I need and about the procedure to change it.

Here in Europe, the choices are not tremendous and we often end up having to order from the US. We can't just walk into a store and ask questions

Glad for any help.

landran

I tried getting it out as the guide suggested, but it just wasn't budging. Finally, I was able to get it out by breaking the rubber around the guide wire on one side, and then using needlenose pliers with vice-grips around the handle to yank it out. The seal crumbled there too, so I used some pipe cleaners to clear it out.


THANKS!!! Mine had 300K+ miles on it and I fought for about 2.5 hours before I came on your post. I did EXACTLY the same thing as you and it came right out. I just hope I didn't fudge anything up too much. I'll find out soon. Thank you for your post as it helped me with mine.

Golfer

How to you get the two pan bolts off that are on either side of where the rear main seal would be. They are between the transmission and the oil pan. The pan bolts not the girdle bolts. Thanks

XxRoll4LifexX

so is my 94 jeep Cherokee Laredo have a 1 piece or 2 piece tranny? i need to figure out before i start