I have had a little over one great month of driving my XJ8 after my big project to rebuild the heads and replace all the timing parts, etc. The car has been running like new for a few thousand miles or so. But I suddenly have a pretty massive oil leak.

I did an oil change about 2 weeks ago and there was no problem. I usually run GTX 5w30, but went to GTX 10w40 at that time and put in some Lucas oil stabilizer as well thinking added protection at startup. Followed directions everywhere with no overfill, not even to the max line.

Got to work the other day and smelled oil, checked and found I was way low. I ended up putting in 2 quarts to get a reading on the stick. Later I saw lots of oil under the car and it was low again. Put in more oil and got it home. No oil light or smoking from the exhaust. Still running great.

I thought it might be the pan gasket, but after cleaning up the belly and starting the engine I see that actually there is a steady drip coming from the area where the engine and transmission meet. When I shut off the engine it stops dripping pretty quickly.

This is not good I know, but how bad? I will take it to the dealer most likely as I don't know who else to trust. Does this sound like a rear seal, and if so how much I should expect the fix to be? Won't attempt that myself. Any other possibilities?

I am pretty bummed at this development after all I had just finished doing to the car. Any opinion on the change in oil weight being a factor?

 

Too bad! That's very disappointing considering all the work you've done. Save yourself some $$ by seeing an indy Jag specialist. Keep the money you saved for other projects you come across later.

 

Sounds more like you didnt get the cam cover gaskets seated correctly(or you did and upon installation they came out and you didnt notice, its a common mistake if youre not very carefull) sometimes they leak right away and other times it takes alittle time. Look around the back of the cam covers and heads. Its very unusual to have a leaking rear main on these engines

 

Thanks Brutal, I am about to go out and pull the cowlings inspect those cover seals carefully all around. I may have had a gasket slip going in, but didn't consider that having been so careful. Nevertheless, I would love to find that is what I did!

Glad to hear the main seal leaking is uncommon. I really appreciate that input right now.

 

I did an inspection of the head and cam cover areas and see no oil anywhere; the upper half of the engine is clean and dry everywhere I can see. Looking underneath with the motor running, the oil drip looks to be coming from the rear access opening to the drive plate housing. When I pull the black plastic access hole cover on the backside, there is oil puddling inside the opening. Oddly, there is also oil on the underbelly forward of that area, though, which is why I first thought it was the pan gasket.

I will need to crawl under and see if I can find any other way oil could be getting in there. So far it is still not looking good for moi.

 

You didnt double gasket the oil filter did you(have the old filter gasket stick to the engine and not notice it)

 

The pan and filter are tight and dry - those were my prime suspects and were quickly ruled out. The only thing that seems odd is that there is oil forward of the access hole where the drips are coming from. Everywhere behind the oil pan is oily, but the pan is not the source and is not oily. My theory about this is that the drive plate spinning is throwing oil out the front access hole. Otherwise, I can't come up with any other possible explanation.

 

Thanks again for your input Brutal and Squish - I will get it to a lift and have a proper look with an independent Jag mechanic next week. I'll post the results as soon as I have a solid diagnosis.

 

There was a post in here a few months ago, where the poster was seeing oil leaking from between engine and tranny, if I recall... he found an oil gallery plug on the back of the engine block that was loose... again if I recall, he had to pull the tranny to find it.

If I can find the thread, I'll post a link.

Edit: Here you go - as shown in several of the pics, the large hex head plug above the crank was loose and dripping oil.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...highlight=plug

 

Yep, that was me....

My rear main was perfect. No sign of oil anywhere near it.

FWIW, my car had 135,000 miles on it and it's a 99 with the original unmolested motor. Cadillac said his was leaking too. I wonder if this is a trend?

Ken Wolkens

 

I am in the independent Jag shop now. The diagnosis is that it is either the galley plug or the rear seal and the recommendation is to take care of both while in there. $950.

 

Make sure they clean and loctite the threads on the galley plug. Also let the mechanic know that they are going to need a BIG hex bit to tighten the thing.

I thought I had every tool known to man but I did not have one that would fit. Heck I even have tools to fix tools but nothing that big. I ended up using a punch because it was six sided and a really good fit. I stuck the blunt end in the plug and then used a crows foot on my torque wrench.

Ken Wolkens

 

I feel like I got a good deal on my repair and I'm back on the road again, again. The rear seal was the culprit and it was replaced. The old seal was pushed well out of its seat evidently, and thus leaking badly. The part load breather was cleaned, galley plug checked and tightened, and they diagnosed my ABS/TRAC light issue (bad pump, not repaired at this time). I had a broken bolt on my oil pan and they extracted and replaced that no charge.

Their original estimate of $950 held and even though it wasn't a cheap visit, I feel like I've found a good and honest mechanic which is certainly worth something.

Nothing like being back on the road, all ship shape - Cheers!