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Known oil drip help

2K views 22 replies 11 participants last post by  shaban 
#1 ·
So I finally have the oil drip issue. This actually started happening after doing an oil change. I started using mobil 1 synthetic (been using castrol synthetic for a year now), with mobil 1 filter. Noticed the drain plug had a little leak, it was already tight, leaking a little less now. The oil filter seems to be leaking from where the filter attaches to. Also a drip coming from a bolt that might be from the rear main seal.

I just want some confirmation of whats exactly leaking before I go and replace the rear main seal and o ring for the filter adapter. The dip stick isnt showing bad levels either, borderline safe and over full, so i'm not losing any oil really fast.

Also the jeep has 132,000 KMs

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#4 ·
Yea, I'll go to a car wash and pressure wash the under area, hope they don't mind me using my wheel ramps hehe. As for the oil filter, I'm sure there isn't anything affecting the rubber seal. As always I put a little oil on the rubber seal on the filter. And the brownish rubber washer is indeed still on the plug.

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#5 ·
I would go for the filter adapter O ring first.

This is assuming it's not the filter itself leaking. Looks dented, and sometimes you trap a pebble or whatever and they leak til you remove and clean the seal.

Then I'd wash it up real thoroughly to be triple sure it was the rear main before doing that nasty job.

It wouldn't make a lot of sense for a rear main leak to make the oil filter drippy on a 4.0. Fiter is kind of high and forward in comparison

good luck
 
#6 ·
Could I unscrew the filter a little bit but not completely off and try cleaning the area? or do i have to drain the oil pan to remove the oil filter?

What I'm seeing from wiping things and seeing the drips appear again, are three leaks. These leaks just started happening after an oil change a couple weeks ago i did.

1. from a bolt from the vertical flat pan area (the direction where the drain plug is facing)

2. the drain plug it self is leaking for some reason (it is indeed tightly screwed in)

3. the oil filter. I noticed a little bit of pooling on the underside of the filter. I tried taking pictures of the pool in the pictures above but i guess i didnt get it.

these are the 3 areas.
 
#7 ·
Always look for the highest, most forward point to identify your leak. That is assuming you've not been out driving around and blowing it all over your engine again! lol After I got mine cleaned up I literally got under it when it was running to find the leaks - with a very trusted person on the brake pedal. My leaks are at the adapter and at one spot on the pan - taking care of those while getting the tranny swapped out.
 
#12 ·
Maybe it's weird to me, but I'm not seeing any oil runs from the rear main to that bolt. I think I'm gonna bring out my pressure washer, the the jeep on the ramps and spray that panel really well.

I'm also starting to see a little bit of pooling where the oil filter goes on. I can't really see behind the adapter to get a look to see if the oil is coming from there. Will keep posting as I learn.

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#15 ·
Probably rear main seal. I know mine leaks and when I replaced my starter had all kinds of dirty oil on the starter engagement arm. Using non synth will help slow the leak a lot. Synth has a lot of detergents and Mobil 1 probable more than what you were previously using.
 
#17 ·
You have a rear main seal leak, which probly 99% of all ZJ's have.. Some can be really bad.. Some can drip maybe 1 or 2 drops every night, some drip maybe 1 drop every few days... My mom's 4.0 is the 1-2 per night dripper, my 5.9 drips maybe 1 every 24 hours...

Its deff nothing to worry about unless its leaking like a faucet and covering the pavement.. If its a slow drip like i mention its not even enough to change the oil level before your next oil change.. In other words ignore it... unless youre anal about it.. That bolt btw is just a bolt that bolts the inspection plate on the transmission.. Meaning that silver metal plate you see between the oil pan and tranny can be removed by unbolting it so you can check out the flex plate
 
#18 ·
Candymancan said:
You have a rear main seal leak, which probly 99% of all ZJ's have.. Some can be really bad.. Some can drip maybe 1 or 2 drops every night, some drip maybe 1 drop every few days... My mom's 4.0 is the 1-2 per night dripper, my 5.9 drips maybe 1 every 24 hours...

Its deff nothing to worry about unless its leaking like a faucet and covering the pavement.. If its a slow drip like i mention its not even enough to change the oil level before your next oil change.. In other words ignore it... unless youre anal about it.. That bolt btw is just a bolt that bolts the inspection plate on the transmission.. Meaning that silver metal plate you see between the oil pan and tranny can be removed by unbolting it so you can check out the flex plate
Thanks candyman for explaining that plate to me. The oil drip isn't bad at all. The oil level isn't going down, so the drip isn't a huge thing for me at the moment and will probably replace the seal when I change the oil.

Yesterday I did take a pressure washer to the inspection plate an also crawl under and clean all the gunk under there to see if I can get a drip line going. I crawled under today and saw no drip line from the upper part where the main seal is. The pooling is mainly from that bolt.

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#19 ·
Mine was leaking exactly like that. Turned out it was an oil adapter filter seeping oil, which was then going along the oil sump gasket and somehow leaking through inside the bell housing and ending up on that bolt.

check that yourself - put some extra oil/degreaser to where the oil filter adapter sits, and see where it ends up in a couple hours.

You can also double-check the rear main seal leak by taking the removable dust shield section out of bell housing and looking at the flywheel. If it's oily, you've got a main seal leak. If not, its not.
 
#20 ·
Mine was leaking exactly like that. Turned out it was an oil adapter filter seeping oil, which was then going along the oil sump gasket and somehow leaking through inside the bell housing and ending up on that bolt.

check that yourself - put some extra oil/degreaser to where the oil filter adapter sits, and see where it ends up in a couple hours.

You can also double-check the rear main seal leak by taking the removable dust shield section out of bell housing and looking at the flywheel. If it's oily, you've got a main seal leak. If not, its not.
How do I take off that dust shield?
 
#21 ·
So I finally have the oil drip issue. This actually started happening after doing an oil change. I started using mobil 1 synthetic (been using castrol synthetic for a year now), with mobil 1 filter. Noticed the drain plug had a little leak, it was already tight, leaking a little less now. The oil filter seems to be leaking from where the filter attaches to. Also a drip coming from a bolt that might be from the rear main seal.

I just want some confirmation of whats exactly leaking before I go and replace the rear main seal and o ring for the filter adapter. The dip stick isnt showing bad levels either, borderline safe and over full, so i'm not losing any oil really fast.

Also the jeep has 132,000 KMs

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"O" ring at the filter adapter. Rear crank shat seal. It happened to me. Also, if you can, start using Bosh filter 3406 I think it is.
 
#23 ·
To take the bellhousing shield off, undo 3 bolts. Two on bottom and one on the side where the exhaust is.
Not that you're going to see much anyway, but take a look at flex plate. If it's got oil all over it, it's the main seal, if not - something else.

Bosch filter can be screwed on without the oil adapter. So you can take off the oil adapter, remove the roll pin, unscrew the filter fitting from the adapter and put it right into the engine block. And then you can screw on the bosch filter right on without the adapter.

I just fixed mine adapter orings, cost me about 6 bucks on ebay plus some fiddling unscrewing the adapter.
 
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