well im a 99 but **** I thought that's what it was might be some thing else I'll take a picture tomorrow and post it

 

Get some baby powder!! If you do the car wash thing (or again) if you can, wait for the water to dry. Run eng 5 min, powder it, no oil(?), run 5 more powder,no oil(?) run longer, until you see the powder sticking to the oil.

 

I wrote this for guys who are there with their Jeeps.




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, people on Jeep forums who can’t see your Jeep from where they’re at, 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. "$hit 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.

Revised 02-26-2013

 

Cruiser makes a detailed and specific point regarding one of the better approaches to troubleshooting: check out the easy, simple and least costly areas for trouble first before assuming it's the expense and catastrophic.

 

thank you guys!

I took a closer look, seems like the previous owner stripped out some bolts on the oil pan, and I found a missing bolt as well.

I ordered a new oil pan (just in case the old one is warped from being over tightened), a new fel pro oil pan gasket, a fel pro rear main seal and a 1/4-20 helicoil kit to repair the stripped hole.

I will be replacing all 3 this weekend. I figure if I have to drop the pan anyways I might as well go in there and replace the rear main.

 

http://www.thejeephut.com/products/c...t-4720363.html will this work guys? Is it a good kit

 

Just wanted to follow up for anyone that searches in the future. I remember seeing a bunch of threads with no conclusion while I was searching for this issue.

I went ahead and replaced the rear main, oil pan, and oil pan gasket. Stopped majority of the leaks. The next morning I noticed oil still by my starter so I replaced the oil adapter orings ($13 bucks from the dealer).

Now its all leak free Kinda weird seeing a jeep with no leaks but I believe the majority of my problems would have been solved by the oil filter adapter oring change.

Thanks again for all the help.

 

Thanks for the update!!

 

Much thanks for getting back! Glad you solved it.

 

Thank you for pointing the oil filter adapter out

It was just really difficult for me to tell where it was initially coming from since there was oil everywhere, LOL.

 

Understood! Once I got so close I'd bought a gasket and seal, (that I returned) Then again recently I nearly went after another, only to find I had vent issues. Like Cruiser points out, they all look like a leaking RM seal, you gotta really look!

Now that it doesn't drip at all, I'd be wary.....that's a little scary! LOL

 

Ok now that we have a consensus to clean the engine, I'd like to ask everyone what they are you using to clean it with? I absolutely love the K&N cleaning formula that comes with a recharge kit but $$$. So what I did is I went and found a brand that has the same ingredients as the K&N cleaner on the shelf at Walmart. What I found was $4 a gallon and its called Purple Power. This stuff works great, just don't leave it on your hands to long because it will start burning after a while.





Works like K&N cleaner!

In this thread about cleaning and finding oil leaks can everyone post thier most favorite cleaning solutions please. Thanks Guys!

 

I've used that, Castrol Super Clean, Ausome cleaner from dollar store, Dawn dish soap.
All work well, but Castrol is pricey.

 

Oil Eater from Costco.

 

Throw some ultra violet leak dye in let it run for a few minutes and shine a UV light on it you'll find it quick