My 99 XJ8 oil leak is making me crazy!

When I bought it I knew it had some various oil leaks but since I knew I was doing the tensioners I figured I'd get most of them while doing that job. So to date I've done:

Valve cover gaskets
Oil Pan gaskets
Timing cover gaskets
VVT seals
Front Crankshaft seal

Those gaskets are perfectly sealed with zero evidence of leaks.

However, I am still getting a considerable amount of engine oil dripping out of the bottom of the transmission bell housing so I figured the rear main seal was shot.

Well today I dropped the transmission and am beginning to doubt my diagnosis.

In the past when a rear main was leaking I've seen the flexplate covered with oil and evidence of oil being flung all over in the bellhousing area. That's not the case here. The area around the rear main seal is actually pretty clean and dry. It looks like the oil is coming from above the rear main and dribbling down the back of the block and collecting in the bellhousing then dripping out the access cover area.

It seems as if the oil is getting in via some holes in the very to top of the engine block forward of the trans mounting flange. I stuck my finger through each of them and found oil pooling around the one on the passenger side.

What the heck is up there that could be leaking? Has anyone run into this before?

 

Wasn't there a few problems with 'porous' engine blocks back in the early days of the V8's?

 

Not sure a porous casting can deliver the volume I'm getting here. When I park it overnight I get a spot on the driveway about 2 inches in diameter and after driving for a while I can smell oil cooking on the hot parts underneath.

I'll keep looking but I'm hoping someone else has seen this before.

Here's a bunch of pics:

Flexplate dry as a bone both sides. Only a little oil on the outer edge. Barely enough to get a rag dirty.





Bellhousing is also clean and dry. Only a little oil staining where oil collected at the bottom.



Back of Engine is pretty clean too. No Evidence of oil being flung around. Only evidence of oil is where it has collected on all of the horizontal surfaces circled in red.



Here’s the three holes I’m talking about. I stuck my finger in them and found oil collected at the bottom edges. The one on the right is the lowest hole and had the most oil.

 

Found the problem.

After the car sat overnight, I noticed more oil had dribbled down and there was a big drop hanging from the Hex Head Galley Plug.

When I went to wipe the area around the Hex Head Galley Plug I found the plug was loose. It was so loose I was actually able to remove it with my fingertips.

It's pretty much just like a big Oil Pan Drain Plug with a gasket so I cleaned the threads added some blue loctite and torqued it down.

I'm chalking this one up to dumb luck...I'm just glad I did not remove the trans for nothing.

 

THe plug in between the red circles in your last picture? Sure wouldn't expect that to come loose on its own. Do you have any service history that might have included removal/replacement of this plug?

 

Yep, that was the culprit. I'm glad I didn't wait any longer. There surely would have been a seizure in this engines future if I did.

There is no history of any major repair at a Jag Dealer on file. Other than that I have none of the non dealer repair history on the car.

 

Got the car running today and let it idle for a while. No leaks anywhere. Now I get to clean the driveway....

 

good job inspector!

 

I am glad you fixed it . Mine did once from O'Rings too .

 

I think my motor is having this same problem!!! How can I print out the pictures to share with my tech?

 

On a MAC, file, print, save as PDF.

On a Windows machine, try to right click on the pic and save as. Otherwise, try centering the pic you want on your screen then hitting the "print screen" key. After that open paint application and paste the image then save it as a file.

 

or,

open the link below, which is the picture post itself

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/j...55/#post218566

then you can print the page, or send the page by email

 

Just found out that I have the same problem, diagnosed to a leaking hex plug. Mine is a MY2009 XKR with 25k miles. uff.

 

OMG, I wonder what this plug is for ?

 

Resurrecting an old thread, I think I have the same thing going on, only in my case it's not that obvious. The oil gallery bolt was not finger tight, but it wasn't really tight either as I was able to remove it with an allen wrench that was a size or two too small. The car is a '99 Jaguar VDP with about 150K miles on the clock.

This leak actually started about 4 years ago. The bottom of the bell housing was wet with oil where it joined the engine block. Never dripped, didn't use much oil, so I put it off. Lately, it got a lot more aggressive about marking it's territory, so it was time to fix.

I took almost all of the attached pictures before wiping or disturbing anything. My flex plate looks just like the original posters.

What do you guys think, rear main seal or bolt? If you look at the last pic, the oil "dots" on the bolt are hard stains and note the shiny band just above the crush washer. There is no shiny band on the top side between the bolt and crush washer. You can see the same things if you look at the third from last and second from last pictures of the bolt still installed in the car.

Thanks,
-Mike

 

How do you turn the crankshaft to get to the 3 bolts that attach to the torque converter?
Just about to dive into my '97 Jag XK8 to fix a very similar problem.

 

Don't you love it when it turns out to be something as simple? Good job.

 

I typically find that galley seal leaking like a stuck pig, but at least removing the trans was not in vain.

 

Interestingly enough, this happened to my 2009 XKR as well some time back. Seems to be a relatively 'common' problem!

 

I have a 2003 XJ8. I had my transmission removed by a local garage in order to have it rebuilt. Since the car had over 130K on it I figured it wise to pay a little extra and have the
rear main seal replaced at the same time for an additional 200. I felt pretty confident in this shop as they were working on cars like Gull Winged Mercedes and Ferraris along with
average cars too. In any case within a month or 2 after getting my car back I noticed a 3 - 6 inch diameter stain on my garage floor. Now other than a cam cover plug I never had any leaks before so
I called the shop owner to let him know and he said there was a possibility that his mechanic did or didnt do something with a metal plate when they did the rear main seal and he agreed to warranty
his work. (I had found this article before I brought the car back to him)
So I bring the car back to have the rear main seal done over right, along with a couple other small things. When I got the bill he charged me full price for doing the rear main seal over again and claimed the leak
wasnt from the rear main seal but the plugs mentioned in this post.
Where my car didnt have any leaks in that area before I had them replace the rear main my questions are

1) Where are those plugs, do you have to remove the rear main seal to get at them or are they accessable when you drop the transmission and there is no need to remove that seal?

2) If those plugs were leaking before I had the tranny removed was the rear main seal keeping the oil trapped from escaping to the outside of the casing and where the new rear main
seal was a botched install the fluid from the leaky plugs got by the new rear main seal?

3)I dont believe those plugs just started leaking within 30 days or having the tranny removed and reinstalled. Where I told the shop to fix any leaks they find shouldnt they have
noticed those plugs leaking?
4) What are those plugs for and what leaks from them engine oil or tranny fluid?

Having a meeting with the shop owner this week and need all the ammo and knowledge I can get.
All comments, advice and opinions appreciated
Thanks / GreggP.