Hi all,

I got my car up on some ramps and noticed that there was some oil collecting on the underside of my car...

It seems to be collecting mostly on what I believe to be the underside of the transfer case (hopefully the pics will help)

The oil is generally quite clean in colour - would this mean that it is unlikely to be the transfer case as the oil would be dirty? I recently changed the oil in my engine, but where would it be coming from?

This is where most of the oil is collecting:



The oil seems to be coming from somewhere up here...



And then oil is also collecting here:



And it doesn't seem like theres any fresh oil here...but any reason why this has residue on?




Thanks!

Gareth

 

Gareth, to me, it looks like your right hand transfer case seal is going and is leaking a little bit. It is a common problem with our cars. If you look where the front halfshaft comes in from the right side, you will possibly see where the oil starts at. Beyond that, Not sure what to tell you.

 

Thanks Thermo,

what's involved in changing the seal over and is it an expensive part?

Cheers

 

I don't think you can replace/repair the transfer case seals. If the seals are broken, you're screwed. If you're lucky, the lube inside the transfer case will leak very slow, but eventually you will run out of lube and then good luck keeping your transfer case alive. You can always join the club and try to refill your transfer case yourself. I'm trying to do that myself as we speak because I'm desperately trying to save my second transfer case, but I'm telling you it's a real pain in the @ss.

Good luck :-)

 

Gareth, unfortunately, that seal is a real PITA to replace as there is an inner and outer seal. So, without some special tools, replacing that seal is about next to impossible. In short, you end up dropping the transfer case out of the car, tearing apart the transfer case to do the inner seal. Then you need to use a special tool to get the half shaft back in. Sounds like fun. From the looks of things, your leak is fairly slow. So, don't worry about it. Common problem with the X-Types and a lot of us are just doing more frequent lube changes to keep up with the fluid loss.

 

Thanks guys,

I'm currently changing the transfer fluid over...just finished the first flush after approx 350ml of black gunk came out - hopefully this will all help to keep on top of the leak!

Gareth

 

If he pulls the TC would it be better to just replace it instead of paying someone to redo the seals, if he wanted to go that route?

 

Old thread but exactly what my TC looks like, nice pictures! If the TC seals are a real pita to do then oil top-ups it is....

I just changed TC oil yesterday and will watch the loss rate closely

 

Did you change your TC oil and overfill? Draining then filling through the drain plug should be no more that 350ml (JagFORUM Logon). I've changed the seal on my TC (JagFORUM Logon).

 

Hey Tony, there was a slight leak before I changed the oil and only drained about 300ml of old stuff. I'm confused as a number of threads are quoting up to 650ml, why you suggest only 350ml?

 

You have to read the post I refer to. The drain plug leaves about 250ml in the TC. The post shows how Astromorg put a drain on the bottom of the TC.

 

I read your post on my iPod and missed the link, I have just read the jag-lovers.org write up with interest, makes a good read and clearly I have over filled it.

as it is vented there should be little concern for popping the seals but my main concern is the flash point of the oil as it drips on the exhaust pipe and burns that nice heavy burnt oil smell

Will address with another turn under the cat tonight.....

Any pointers on changing the seals (with pictures) would be helpful

Tony_H and jaguarforums.com/jag-lovers.org members I really appreciate the guidance

 

Read the second link!

 

carl, the flash point of the gear lube is very high and not a problem. Sure, it will smoke a little bit, but that is about it. Don't worry about any sort of fire.

 

thanks Thermo, just throwing it out there - my mind is at ease now.