I have 1997 XJ 4.0 with a RMS leak. Have replaced and tried to fix the leak two different times and I still have a leak. I followed the installation guide both times, putting soap on one side and oil on the other gasket maker/rtv where recommended and torquing the cap properly. Would like to try again myself before spending over $1000 to have a shop do it.
Any tips or advice to help me would be greatly appreciated.

 

How do i say this discreetly....live with it. All 4.0's leak. A 1000 shop job will not fix anything except make your wallet empty. I have built 4 motors....all leak, I park in the street. If I have to park in the clean driveway, i throw down a slab of carpet. Most RMS leaks come from above anyway.. do a search...10,000 hits...all leak....****ty design. Why 1000 bucks...don't need to drop tranny or motor...just oil pan and last bearing cap...if they suggest anything else they are just screwing you....revision....are we talking drips and stains or spewing oil out the rms....if so might have scored or damaged crank...if not see above

 

Not sure on there pricing, that is just what the most reputable trans shop in my area quoted me.

When I shut the engine off after a drive it'll drop about 4-6 drops of oil on the ground within 30 minutes then stops. Sometimes while idling it'll drop drops of oil. I have checked for oil leaks coming from above and there are none. It did not leak until I decided to change the seal while I had the oil pan off, obviously a mistake. I don't recall hitting the crank when removing the upper portion of the seal.

 

I had a similar issue and it turned out after cleaning everything off a few times that the leak was actually coming from the crank sensor. Mine was missing its o ring and would allow the oil to travel down the top edge of the pan and drip like an rms leak. Its worth a shot to check at least. I took a shop towel and tied it around the base of the sensor and when I got home no drips, took the towel off and it had a nice bit of oil on it. Do you atill have your oil filter adapter on yours?

 

Well, a few things to review.

Are you sure it's the RMS and not the pan gasket? Did you have any difficulty removing the pan that may have caused some distortion on the sealing surface.

Did the upper seal come out in one piece? Did use a brass punch to push it out enough? Did it resist until you got a bigger hammer? Just trying to determine if there's a piece of the old seal still in there or you may have marked up the seal surface

Did you insert the upper seal in the correct orientation? It's easy to get it in backwards. Did it goes in somewhat easily or did you have to "persuade" it in?

There's a half ring support that goes on after the pan to support the oil pan around the gasket. Is it still there and torqued?