Hello all,


I'm the proud owner of a beautiful (32,000 mile) 1996 XJ6. This thing is a blast to drive, but I've noticed that my driveway is developing some small oil stains. There is a bit of oil forming along the underside of the car, right where I've circled in the picture. Am I missing a plug of some sort here? Thanks for the help!

 

Check the back of the valve cover, I replaced all of my valve gaskets 6 months ago and found I had to retight the bolts again, it was also an issue when I got the Car it had oil all down the engine. Now it's clean and drip free, with love.

 

Sorry forgot no plug needed.

 

Wonderful, I'll check the head gasket bolts. Any idea off the top of your head what lb/ft of torque they should be at?

 

Hi And11200,

Congratulations on your new Jag and Welcome to the Jaguar Forums!

Mike is not describing the head gasket bolts, and you do not want to attempt to retorque those bolts. What I think he is referring to are the screws that secure the cam cover and the cylinder head rear cover. The cam cover gaskets and cylinder head rear cover gasket are are common leak points. Even though your '96 has very low mileage, it's still 18 years old, so these rubber gaskets have probably hardened and tightening the screws may only make matters worse, so if the rear cover or cam cover is the source of your oil leak, you can try snugging the screws, but be prepared to replace the gaskets. I can't recall the torque spec of the top of my head, but it's not very tight - it's just snug, so don't go crazy or you risk snapping the head off a screw, or worse, stripping the threads in the head.

The cam cover is shown in the diagram below. On cars with overhead valves, it's called a valve cover, but since our Jags have overhead cams, it's called a cam cover. The cam cover gasket is Part 2 in the diagram below. The spark plug well seals are Part 3, and you need six of those, one for each spark plug well:




The cylinder head rear cover is another common source of oil leaks. Unfortunately it is difficult to access with the head installed on the engine, but I believe some members have managed to replace the gasket without removing the head - use the forum Search window at the top of this page to search for details. The rear cover is Part 3 in the diagram below, and its gasket is Part 4:



Now, with all that said, the area in your photograph is the juncture of the engine and transmission bell housing. Failure of the engine rear main oil seal can allow oil to leak into the bell housing and drip out of the bottom. I tend to agree with Mike that the cam cover and head rear cover gaskets are more likely suspects, but you do need to have a very careful look with a strong flashlight to determine the actual source of your leak.

The diagrams above come from jaguarclassicparts.com, the parts service website of the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust. You can learn a lot about your car by reviewing the parts diagrams and lists at that site.

Also, I highly recommend that you purchase the DVD that contains the service manuals, electrical guide and other documentation for your X300. It will answer many questions and help you properly maintain and repair your Jaguar:

http://www.jaguarheritage.com/jaguar...0-1995-to-1997


There are also LOTS of documents available for free download from this forum, in the X300 'HOW TO' quick links thread on the home page of this X300 forum. Spend some time downloading and reviewing those documents and you'll learn a lot.

Also, since we're a friendly group, please visit the https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/n...-intro-must-5/ and post an introduction so we can give you a proper welcome and learn something about you and your Jag.

Please keep us informed.

Cheers,

Don

 

The torque for the camshaft cover is 4-5 Nm. That is what I was referring too.

 

Resurrecting this old thread... What ended up being the source of the leak? My '97 just developed a small leak in the same place. Was it the cam cover gasket or cylinder head rear cover gasket? I've also been seeing people talk about oil-bypass O-rings as well. Hopefully it wasn't the rear main seal.

 

 

 

Place your finger behind the rear edge of the valve cover and feel if the 2 " D " shaped parts of the top valve cover gasket have fallen out of position . Easy to miss and even if in position imperfection of the gasket manufacturing mold needs some hi - temp sealant in the corners of the " Ds " before installation . You might even find some old sealant remaining that needs to be cleaned off for a clean slate for the new sealant .

You would have to place the sealant on the seal and put it on the head and then lower the cover into position . There is a torque pattern and value as a Jaguar TSB but in reality they are shoulderd bolts that bottom out . Someone came up with the idea to add additional washers under the heads to give a greater gasket pinch .

The valve cover groves the " T " seal seats in can get grainy and rough and sealant may help on this area , the same can be said of the well gaskets preventing oil in the spark plug wells .