Hello,

my car has an oil leak on the left side and I can't locate exact place where it is leaking. It is somewhere under the oil filter and I simply can't see where exactly it is.

After quite a lot of reading my bet is that oil cooler pipes O-rings are leaking.

Doe anyone have any tips on replacing them? Is it even possible to replace them as DIY project?

Perhaps someone here from north NJ can recommend a shop that would be experienced in our cars.

Thank you.

 

[QUOTE=NJ2003XJ8;1447346]Hello,

my car has an oil leak on the left side and I can't locate exact place where it is leaking. It is somewhere under the oil filter and I simply can't see where exactly it is.

After quite a lot of reading my bet is that oil cooler pipes O-rings are leaking.

Doe anyone have any tips on replacing them? Is it even possible to replace them as DIY project?

Perhaps someone here from north NJ can recommend a shop that would be experienced in our cars.

Thank you.[/QUOTE

Hi

If the Oil Leak is near the Engine, or on the Oil Filter Assembly, it should be a fairly easy Job for you to do as a DIY Project, as the Pipes should undo fairly easily.

So if you are absolutely convinced, that this is the source of your Oil Leak, you could undo the fitting in question and have a good look to see what may be wrong, maybe it just needs a 'Tweak' with a Spanner?

If the fitting uses 'O' rings, then you should be able to get these from your local Hydraulic Shop for a couple of dollars.

But again find the Source of the Oil Leak first, or you could end up making a lot of work for nothing.

 

Thanks. I was worried that I need to remove steering first.
The car is on jack-stands and from under it it is impossible to see much, not to mention the leak is mostly while engine is running...
I will use my phone tomorrow to take a bunch of pictures, hopefully it will help to confirm the source. Not sure if there are other common oil leak reason in the same area.

I got O-rings ordered, should get them in few days. Part CAC5118.

 

Here are some pics, the best I could do...
Looks like oil is dripping from hoses.
I hope O-rings are the problem. Could be hoses themselves, but that would complicate things a lot (although sounds like people use oil cooler bypass without issues, I may look into it if hoses are bad).

How should I go about replacing them? I can see the nut that holds the plate that holds the hoses, but can't really reach it with my hand. I can probably unscrew it using extension (anyone knows what socket goes over this nut? it would really help) but can't imagine how I would put plate back in place. Should I remove air filter assembly (and oil filter) and reach that way?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

 

NJ 2003XJ8,

I would suggest that a leak from the junction of the pipes to the oil filter connection plate is not common on 6-cylinder XJSs. The usual problem is from the junctions of the oil cooler pipes to the cooler itself but that seems quite a bit further forward from where you're describing the leak. However, oil can travel back along pipes and give a conflicting view as to the original source. You also want to hope that it's not at the cooler end as this gives all sorts of problems usually resulting in the cooler getting destroyed.

I confess that I'm not really sure from the photos as to the leak as there is the usual oil and grime on a number of surfaces. Before you start buying anything or disconnecting anything, I would thoroughly clean and degrease all of that area and then you'll find it much easier to pinpoint the source.

Good luck

Paul

 

Hi

Well done for sending the Pics but as of yet I haven't worked on the Engine of a 3.6 although I've removed and then replaced the Oil Cooler and Pipes on a 5.3 V12.

Which happens to be the Job from 'Hell' as the Fittings that go to the Oil Cooler, corrode themselves together, every bit as much as if they had been Welded on.

In that situation they are almost impossible to undo and so after a week of trying, I ended up by scrapping the lot and then replacing with new.

While I don't doubt you could do the Job, the biggest problem that you have is in getting access underneath, which is so much easier if you have a Car Lift.

But if you decide to have a go and are unsuccessful, you may find there is no going back and as such could turn into the kind of Job you wish you'd never started.

If it were me the first thing I would do, is take her to a Guy who does Steam Cleaning, the mention of which, I can already tell has almost certainly caused an outbreak of 'Panic'

Don't Steam Clean the Engine, it could be the 'kiss of death' especially on an XJS V12.

All you want is for the Guy to give it a very quick burst underneath, to clean all the muck away from the parts that you are working on, so at least you will be able to see what you're doing.

Or better still get yourself a long handled brush and some degreaser, its a rotten job but someone's got to do it and that's You.

If you need to replace the Pipes, don't bother with OEM but get yourself a set made up at your local Hydraulic Shop, that makes up Pipes for things like Tractors, Plant and Excavators.

OEM Pipes could cost you a small fortune but my local Hydraulic Shop only charged me something like £25.

Probably double that price by now but even so a Bargain.

When you've got it all cleaned up, you need to make an 'Executive Decision' and that's to do the Job yourself, or take it to a Shop and let them do it.

There is no shame with a Job like that, as it can be so awkward if you don't have room to work, so why not wheel her down to a Shop/Garage and get an estimate.

All you want is a price for the Labour and you will supply the Pipes (which you are having made up at a fraction of OEM Price)

 

Paul, thanks for the suggestion. The cooler connections are dry and clean, I am pretty sure no problems there. Oil is dripping of the hoses close to engine block. Also, there are few people in XJ6 forum who are complaining that O-rings go bad, this is why I thought it is likely I have same problem.

I will wash the engine and will do some more 'observation'... hopefully it will be clear where is the leak.

Thank you.

 

Thank you,

I found in service manual that to replace o-rings one should remove air cleaner/filter assembly, it seems like I will have a good access this way. I am still looking for a shop that will be willing to do the job (for reasonable price). When I asked my local shop for this job - the face expression that came with answer looked like $$$$$ :-)

As far as getting new pipes/hoses from Hydraulic Shop - what do I ask for? Is there a 'compatible' hose? Or they simply can assemble 'compatible' connector-hose-connector set and join/press it together?

Thanks again!

 

I know nothing about this model, NJ, but the normal procedure is to take the old pipes down and tell the hose people to make up a set of new ones the same as the old.
Greg

 

Hi

There is a lot of 'Mystery' surrounding Hydraulic Pipes but there is nothing Special about the OEM Pipes, Except for The Price!

The Hydraulic place that I went to when I had some New Pipes made up, let me go around the back so I could see how they do it.

They have dozens of Reels of Hydraulic Hose, of every size you can think of, including the Stainless Steel Braided Stuff, that looks like the Aerostyle Type.

Try buying an OEM Set of those and see how much they Cost!

But I didn't want them on my XJS I wanted exactly the same as the ones I took off, so they just pulled the required amount of rubber hose off the reel.

They also have boxes of Hydraulic Fittings of every type you can think of and the ones that were on my Original Hoses, were really nothing special in their eyes.

They just push the fitting onto the Pipe and then 'Crimp' it on with their Machine, which hardly takes about 10 minutes to do. 'Its as Simple as that'

So find your nearest Hydraulic Shop and if you can get the Pipes off it might be more cost effective, to get a Brand New set of Pipes made up.

Since they are going to be 'Bespoke' it should therefore be possible to negotiate a price, which I would suggest could be around half the cost of the OEM type.

 

NJ2003XJ8,

Absolutely do not try and undo the ends of the hoses at the cooler end unless you really know that a hose has failed rather than the o-ring at the engine end. Because you will destroy the oil cooler and now the bill is mounting up. 95% of the the time, the cooler hose connection can not be removed without destroying the cooler.

If you've really got a damaged hose rather than o-ring, my suggestion would be to cut it on the cooler side of the damage and get a new hose made with a fitting to connect to where you've made the cut.

You mention the xj6 boys talking about leaking seals, but have they got the same setup? In the uk, the 6-cylinder cars were not fitted with oil coolers. They use a bypass block by the oil filter , which is an option you right want to explore.

Good luck

Paul

 

Apparently, XJ6 series 3 made at about same time as mine (1985) had the same setup with oil cooler. Sounds to me that many models that had AJ6 engines on them at that time had the same setup. ( According to jagbits even later 'Jaguar 1992 4.0 XJS UP TO VIN 184573 ' had the same setup.)

I will look at bypass block for sure, seems like it will eliminate 'upcoming leak' on the other side of the hoses.

Thank you.

 

Paul, My 1989 3.6 auto XJS had an oil cooler OEM.
Greg

 

Yes, oil coolers were fitted on aj6 and aj16 xjs cars but not on xj6 with those engines ( at least in the UK). That's why I questioned the xj6 boys talking about leaking seals at the engine end. The XK that's fitted in the Series 3 is a completely different engine.

Paul

 

This is one of the examples where I 'overheard' xj6 guys talking :-)
Jag-lovers Forum Thread (Re: [xj] 87 XJ6 4.2 Oil Cooler Hose {Scanned})

 

Hi,


Hope this isn't a red herring but I have seen a number of 6 cylinder engines (mine included) with oil leaks from the rear of the rocker box cover. This leaks down the back of the engine and finds its way to all sorts of places suggesting a leak from elsewhere. The rocker box leak comes from a couple of half moon shaped seals just below the gasket.


As I said, hope this isn't a false trail but it is easily checked. Good luck.


Cheers,


LeeP

 

Thank you, I did have a small leak there as well... two days ago I installed new shiny gasket set (including half moon shaped seals) :-D

 

NJ2003XJ8,

As mentioned, that's an XK 4.2 engine they are discussing, quite different to an AJ6 engine.

Cheers

Paul

 

Thank you, I missed that part. What caught my attention is the oil cooler pipes with the same o-ring(CAC5118), which is often leaking.
In any case my O-rings just came, so they are going in one way or another :-)
Thank you.

 

Please let us know how you get on and whether or not the 'O' rings solved the problem, with some Pics if poss.

I wouldn't envy anyone, trying to do that job with such limited space to work under.