Geeordee

I'm getting ready to do replace a handful of gaskets on my 98 xj and among them are the rear main and oil pan gasket. The process seems easy enough but every tutorial that I've found has the front axle removed. Is this necessary or was this only for the purpose of visibility in the videos? Nobody references it as a necessary first step, but it's obvious that the axle is gone. Will getting it up on a couple jack stands give me enough leverage to remove the oil pan and access the rear main seal or am I setting myself up for failure before I start?

00t444e

You can do it with the axle still in, if its not lifted you may have to put the body on jackstands and let the axle drop down to give you clearance.

Geeordee

Awesome, thanks! No lift yet, so jackstands it is.

fb97xj1

Just undo the shocks along with the end links and let the axle hang. That should give you just enough room to drop the pan, reach inside to disconnect the oil pump, and remove the pan. The oil pump hangs a bit low so removing that is a huge help.

nickfancher1

dzywicki

The trick is to jack up the axle. When you jack it up, it will move forward and give you room to get it out. When I put mine back, I had to place the oil pump in the pan, get the pan over the axle and then bolt the oil pump up. Really isn't too bad. I used dental floss to keep the pan gasket in place on the pan when replacing it. I packed the oil pump iwth vaseline prior to reassembly. Gave me instant oil pressure.

cruiser54

Consider this:

I’d be looking up ABOVE first, and VERIFYING the source of the oil leak YOURSELF.

Everybody, who doesn’t own or have to pay for or perform your vehicle repairs, loves to poke their noggin UNDER the Jeep and come out bearing the false bad news that your RMS is leaking. Many mechanics, friends, and good old Uncle Bob seem to enjoy telling you it’s the rear main seal. Has a catastrophic ring to it, doesn’t it?

A simple leak at the back of the valve cover or other source could produce the same symptoms. You don’t need to be a mechanic to figure this out. If you have good eyesight and a dim flashlight, you’re good to go on your own. Don’t jump on the RMS/oil pan gasket bandwagon right off the bat.

Almost any oil leak on your 4.0 is gonna drip from the RMS area for two simple reasons:

First off, the engine sits nose-up and any oil will run back to the RMS area.

Secondly, the RMS area is also the lowest point on the engine. Simple physics and the old plumber’s adage apply here: “Crap flows downhill”.

Valve cover gasket, oil pressure sending unit, oil filter adapter seals and distributor gasket, in that order, have to be eliminated as possibilities first.

tinytrax78

please be sure to find leak first it may be easier than you think check valve cover,oil filter adapter , also you do not have to remove axle just the shocks and in my case I removed the wheels,track bar and calipers to give me extra droop good luck

MillerXJ2

New here so not sure if this is where I should post but it's the closest discussion to my issue that I could find. I've got a 2000 XJ that I purchased from my father in law, mistake #1. Kept dropping oil pressure at idle so I decided to replace the oil pump, no issues there. While I had it all apart I went ahead and replaced the rear main. What has me confused is that my rear main bearing cap isn't machined to accept the tabs of the new seal like normal (See pic). I didn't think much about it, just cut the tabs off the new seal, installed everything, permatex where needed, put it all back together. Drove it a few hundred miles and now I have a fairly substantial oil leak. Before I redo the job I was wondering if this is common or if this is completely FUBAR. Is it possible that somewhere in its past someone didn't put the bearing caps on in their correct locations (out of order) and my rear main cap is one of the other 5? Hope this makes sense

5-Speed

2000 and up blocks are different. The picture above is from a 99 or older. Get a rear main for a 2000 and it wont have the side tabs.

BTW - I did the same thing as you and cut the tabs off an older rear main seal to put in my 01. Doesnt leak though. Check the back of the head to see if its wet. The valve cover is the most common thing to leak.

Bugout4x4

Since you bumped it I hope it's OK if I jump in here. I wonder if it is possible the seal is in backwards and not pressure sealing the lip against the journal? This would cause the same symptom as soon as it gets just a little wear on it.

outersketcher

I replaced the rear main seal and the oil pan gasket on my '95 XJ 'bout 8 or 9 years ago. Did it in my driveway.. Jacked up the body, and let the axle drop to its full length. I also removed both front wheels so I could move around under there. Yep. It was a pain in the butt. However. Doable. Just take your time and use the new felpro gasket that has those little plastic clips to hold the oil pan gasket in place for you and help line up the bolt holes. Remember, you only need add a little bit of rtv to the corners of the gasket thats it.. leave the rest of it dry. Makes for a much easier installation.

Also, I agree with everyone who says check your other common leak sources. In FACT.. after I had changed my RMS and oilpan gasket.. I soon discovered that my oil leak problem was actually a broken oil sensor unit up by the oil filter.

cruiser54

So common that it's not really the rear main.

MillerXJ2

​​​​​​​I checked the valve cover first thing and it's dry as a bone. I'm sure I was just a little lite on the rtv. Thanks for the clarification on the bearing caps, wasn't aware of the difference between years.

MillerXJ2

​​​​​​​I was very careful to make sure the seals were in the correct way. Checked a few times before I put it in. Thanks for the advice though