Sp Im driving down 512 freeway from Tacoma towards Puyallup and a state trooper pulled me over, I wasnt speeding, had no "illegal mods" or anything done to my XJ (minus no muffler that I had busted off while wheelin a few weeks ago )... Turns out I was leaking oil like crazy . I had a good half quart on the ground when I stepped out of the rig to take a look see... Apparently I was leaking oil for the last 3 or 4 miles before the popo pulled me over ... The oil pressure gauge never moved, it always stayed in reasonable pressure range, did NOT bounce or anything else... So I had the rig towed home and took a look. I cannot tell if the rear main seal, the head gasket OR the valve cover gasket blew out... All have substational amount of road grime/oil/wheelin debris around the area, and I cannot figure out where the oil leak is coming from and I do NOT want to yank the engine out nor do I want to take it to a shop any time soon, any advice?

I drive a 89 Cherokee, 2-door with a 4.0 5-speed 4x4 and only has approximately 160k on the motor

 

Degrease and presure wash everything, let dry and fire it up to see were its comming from and replace the offending part. Check oil presure sending unit and filter also. Good Luck.

 

I'll give that a shot... any specific degreaser I should use?

 

with your prob... the most amount for the cheapest amount.

Usual suspects... rear main, oil pan, oil filter adapter, valve cover.

If the cop pulled you over for smoking out the highway then I would look at your tranns for any leaks. That red liquid really smokes up good when let dripped on the exhaust.

 

Great advice, the only way you will find the leak.

 

purple power get the gallon its cheaper...an do 50/50 h20

 

Pretty much just found the problem in less than an hour... and the winner is...
OIL PAN GASKET!!!
Thank you all for playing, will check in a little bit when I drop the pan. Looks like I'll have to make a trip to schucks again in the rockin comanche

 

have fun with that... im pretty sure you gotta lift the motor up enough to get the pan away from the crank... at least most motors you do...

 

wait. coudn't you just disconnect the front swaybar, trackbar and shocks and lift the body to access the oilpan?

 

i dunno... never paid much attention to mine i guess... but normally there is a crossmember in the front for strength... and that sits right under the oil pan... on my dodge there is 1" beween the two...

 

didnt have to do any of that, just needed to remove the starter. one bolt is a tricky bast**d as the track bar (at least thats what i think it is...) is in the way, wasnt all that hard. only difficulty i had was accesing 2 bolts in between the tranny/engine block, had to use several extensions on the ratchet to access the bolts. gasket wont be available till tomorrow morning, so im just going to let the pan sit out with a bunch of degreaser and clean it up overnight

 

Good stuff man, while it's off do some research and see if you have a 2 piece real main, nows the time to pop it in! Unless it's 1 piece f that lol

 

already took a look, its a 2-piece ordered a new seal as well while the pan is down, might as well!

 

Ya I would go ahead and replace the rear main. It's like $5 not fun to replace but worth it...lol

 

You should be good now.... until the rear main leaks again. But it's a jeep it will happen soon again lol