rgs80074

Hello Everyone,

I have an oil leak in my jeep. I am not sure where its coming from i have some idea's but not sure. I'll be buying a couple of more quarts of oil to get me by for the next 700-1000 miles then i'll be changing the oil filter and oil again but would like to try to figure out where the oil might be leaking from before then.

I need to get it cleaned all up, the prior owner had an oil leak on the adapter that he said he fixed but I am wondering if that's still where its leaking.

I've been toying iwth the idea of taking off the adapter and seeing if that solves the oil leak or not. my old jeep did not have this adapter.

the reason I think its the adapter is because if not i'd think there would be more oil around and on the starter which actually looks like its pretty clean.

not sure how hard it is to fix the adapter.

anyways thanks everyone

ryan

jeep info:

1996 grand cherokee limited
140k on it i think thats right
v6
2wd

everything stock on it.

SatiricalHen

On my jeep the adapter leaked and it all went onto the starter. I'm going to have to use cruiser's saying here start at the top and work your way down. Check the valve cover first and the rms last because it all runs down the engine. I had a leak on the adapter and fixed it, the valve cover gasket, And the pcv or ccv whatever those are on top they were clogged building pressure And squeezing oil out places it normally wouldn't go. Got all that fixed now and haven't had a problem since. There might still be a drip every few days but oh well I'm not too worried about it.

SatiricalHen

Also just noticed you said v6, I didn't know they put a v6 in those, are you sure it's not the I6?

Cherryokee

Ya, there's no V in the 6 and likely no 8 in the GC Limited, but I can be wrong, right?

Take it to the car wash and degrease/wash the engine and bay (look up a youtube how-to video if you've never done it before). Drive as you normally would and continue to monitor (frequently) for oil leaks until you find the source. Then, when you're ready to do the filter and/or adapter, or whatever else you may find, you'll be working on a clean machine.

If you can bring ramps to the car wash then you'll be better able to wash the greases off the under-belly. Wear wet-gear and safety glasses too.

Good luck finding the leak and better good luck fixing it.

Let us know how/what happens?

dave1123

If the oil is not covering the entire bottom of the engine and starter, you should check the oil pressure sender for leaking. If it is, you probably have a bad o-ring in the adapter. There are 3 o-rings under the adapter and I believe it is held on the engine by a T60 Torx bolt that is a PITA to get off because of wrench clearance issues. Use Google and search for "Jeep oil filter adapter", click on Yucca-Man and he has a good write-up on how to do it.

rgs80074

Hello everyone,

I didn't know there was anything special for the cylinders. I always thought a 6 cylinder was a v6 and an 8 a v8, thats how I've always heard them refereed too, even my duster (i miss that car) was referred to as a slant v6.


I've always been afraid to wash the engine to me it just don't seem like something you should do especially if its not 100%, i mean if the oil can leak out then i reason water could get in.

In my last jeep which had an oil leak but never got around to fixing (totaled the jeep the week before I booked time to work on it) the starter was covered in oil but that jeep had no adapter either.

this oil leak which is worse than my last one has been hard to pinpoint because i think most is leaking down from the adapter which has it sitting more or less not over anything. the starter looks much cleaner than the engine itself which is kinda dirty but the prior owner said he had an oil leak at the adapter which he had just fixed the day or two before i bought it (he didn't think he'd be selling the jeep anytime soon). he hadn't cleaned the engine but said it was an o-ring in the adapter.

I had a t60 socket I purchased just for this that i can (haven't tried yet) remove from the socket due to the space issue although honestly while I've not checked it seems like I have plenty of space to put in a socket wrench.

there's really no oil above the valve gasket and not a whole lot right under it further down there is more but i think most of the oil is dropping to the ground mostly when driving but I could be wrong.

what are the parts on top your talking about changing satricalhen? I think I might have already changed something on top of the engine when I bought it but can not remember.

dave1123 the oil pressure sender not sure what part that is. I can watch videos and feel half way safe doing jobs but you said to check that and if its leaking I probably have a bad o-ring on the adapter. is that the same part or a different part?


My biggest problem with repairs is getting the time to do them. I work at night and then I break up my sleep and half of the time when I wake up I have stuff to do and then don't feel like doing anything else after because I don't have time to finish to push stuff off to my days off and then half of the time don't get stuff done.

I have a list of things I need to do on my vehicles and a few things in the house just can't seem to get around to them.

I have to prioritize stuff by need, and the oil leak is up there but I can just add a quart of oil every 7-8 hundred miles and I am good of course I worry it would get worse so its on my list to get done next week on my days off with a lot of other stuff for the jeep (seats, clogged condensation drain, light switch whcih i still have to order). then there's the stuff on the van I have to replace the engine coolant sensor.

gotz to work

later ryan

dave1123

Ryan, the trick to washing an engine is not getting the distributor wet by blasting it with the pressure wand. If the engine is warm, it helps dry out quicker. As I've said, the distributor, spark plugs and wires are the things to keep dry as much as possible. If you have an aftermarket air filter that's exposed, that's something else to not get soaked. My buddy has a K&N air filter on his and he ties a plastic bag around it. Around my area, the owners of car washes don't allow you to wash your engine, so do it at night when there's no one around. I suggest you take another vehicle with you in case yours doesn't want to start right away.

I love it when you drive into a spray booth where someone else has de-mudded their 4x4! I'll move to another bay before I get blamed for it. Anytime I've washed mud off mine, I rinse down the bay before I leave.

This is a little off-topic, but back in the early 60s, the police caught 2 hippies, a man and a woman, stripped naked giving themselves a bath in our neighborhood car wash! It was, after all, 3AM. I thought it was cool!

BTW, the oil pressure sending unit has a plug on it and is right next to the oil filter. On some jeeps right around your vintage, it's very easy to damage it with the filter wrench when changing the filter. It's better to change it from the bottom to avoid this.

Bearstream

Here's my T-60 torx tool for tight space oil nut on Jeep. I fabricated the wrench lug from a busted extension and plugged it into the torx tool.



T-60 tight space torx tool

dave1123

One other way is if your Torx socket is a hex insert, you can use a long box wrench on the bit part.

alpine.adrenaline

A six-point closed end wrench will slip over the torx head and fit in that space.

rgs80074

can't you just use your hose at home? Wouldn't that be better or isn't there enough pressure to really get it clean?

what kind of cleaner do you all recommend?

Also I was thinking of this the other day. Does putting the vehicle on ramps effect the quality of oil change you get? Putting it on ramps would help me clean it and get under the vehicle to check for anything i can find. I am a pretty big person who of course has back problems as well so anything I can do to help myself out would be a benefit.

ryan

dave1123

Over the years, I've used kerosene and a garden hose on a cold engine, but if the exhaust is hot, it makes a lot of flammable vapor. NOT a good idea. PLUS, you need a place where it will not contaminate the ground. There are several spray cleaners available to pretreat the gunk, but most of the time a high pressure car wash works pretty good.

I have this "thing" about ramps having driven off a cheap pair and damaging my car, so I just use a rolling floor jack and stands. I'm a big guy myself at 5'6" and 250 lbs with arthritis, so I know where you're coming from. As long as the drain plug is in the rear of the pan, having the front end raised shouldn't effect an oil change.

rgs80074

i've never driven off ramps believe it or not. i have the old steel ramps i know that plastic ones are supposed to be better i just can't seem to feel safe under them.

same with stands i dont trust them i use them but dont trust them

ryan

dave1123

A good heavy pair of 4 leg stands are what I use, not the cheap round tube, 3 leg ones. These have a ratchet on the side with drop forged irons. Plus, I leave my floor jack under it as a safety catch.