Now that I have the car running, I am seeing an oil leak from the rear main seal. I removed the two plastic thingys on the transmission bell housing and inspected the area between the converter and engine block. At this point in time the leak is minimal and I guess it would only get worst and I am pondering whether I want to go thru the hassle of replacing this seal, since it would entail engine removal and partial strip down.
I am not a fan of having oil on my driveway or in my garage and I am kind of ticked off after having spent over 18 months slowly getting the car to where it is today only to realize that the work is never done.
Beside the rope seal, I would be looking for the sizing tool which no one seems to have.
I am hoping that since the car did not run for about 8 years before I acquired it, that the seal dried out and by running it it may soften up a bit, but that is just wishful thinking.
Any thoughts on this?

 

Oil under the car is how you know it's a real Jaguar and not a Chinese knock-off.

It is never-ending. I was warned about that from another former Jaguar owner when I bought mine. "It's a tinkerer's car. There will always be something to do on it."

I bought it anyway, but he was definitely right. My fix-it list for it has never gone away.

 

Rope seals do dry out, yes.

Rope seals will take up again once FRESH oil gets into it, yes.

The amount of take up is subjective, but it has worked well for me over the years.

Give it about 1000miles or so and see if there is a decrease in the flow.

Those snake oil seal ups are really only for the "rubber" type seals, not the rope.

 

You are educated and that is refreshing. Engine out of the car and partial dis-assembly is the only way to replace the rope seal. Like others have said, give it some time first and see what happens.

 

If oil on you garage floor bothers you, merely put a drip pan under the car. Mine has 2 covering the full length of engine and transmission.
Kitties need litter boxes, ya know.
(';')

 

I am afraid I am a brutal reality freak. If it were my car I would be asking myself this.

Is this the thin edge of the wedge ??? Will the head gasket go next?
Will the tappet buckets decide to leave the head if you do not have a stake down kit? This is now a 30+ year old car that was never known to be trouble free, even when new.... I went down this road replacing various and sundry items for the "money pit " until I just simply got pissed off at it.

If I were you and knew just how much time and money I was willing to "invest" then , that would be the starting point.
Personally,.. to pull the engine and all that entails,.. just for a seal, is at best a "patch" and after all is said and done and back in place and running right,... you still have a 30 year old car with a 3 speed trans and atrocious gas mileage.. I would say you are at a turning point ,...at least I would be. Yes you knew it was coming..... lump it with a modern V8 and 4 speed overdrive trans.
I would be rebuilding a V8 and buying an O/D trans now while waiting for the Jag engine to develop more ills and expire.
Its brutal but its reality.

 

Many great points.


1. When my Jeep went in on recall, it was "inspected". One comment was that the rear main seal was leaking. Might be so. I thought it was the valve cover gasket. I lose no oil?? My asphalt drive is far from pristine. A bit of oil is "good" for it.


2. The LT1 and 4L60 E don't drip. Un Jaguar like????


3. At one time, when rope seals were common, there was a method to change them that worked, sometimes. Drop the pan. Remove the rear main cap. A stiff but bendable twisted wire device pushed or pulled the rope out. the same "tool" pushed in the new one. preferably soaked in oil for slipperiness and lube on start up.


4. The Snake oil sealers soften the rubber so it seals again, for a while. Caveat, it continues to swell and soften them, until they fail big time. One "trick" that extends things is a fresh oil change after running for a while. More popular for slush boxes than engines.


5. The "Y" block 312CI V8 in an od truck of mine developed a leak.
I opened things up expecting a rope. Slick a two piece alloy housing and a rubber insert. Easy fix!!! l


A bit later, a family friend got a really nice log bed 56 with the similar 292 engine. Bad leak, same place. I know what to do!!! We opened up. OUCH. Bad seal and a badly grooved crank. he got another engine....


Carl

 

Given the amount of work required to replace the rear main oil seal, it would be foolish of me to just pull the engine and repair only the seal.
Out of curiosity I started pricing the required parts needed for a complete motor rebuild and it turns out to be a pretty penny.
Major parts alone; rings, bearings, timing components, gaskets will exceed $1000.00, then all of the sundry parts required to complete the build. Figure $1500.00+.
Add to that the cost of whatever I may find after the tear down. Corroded head studs? broken locking tabs? and the list can go on and on.
So the decision I have made is to drive the car as it is.
It will either get slightly better or extremely worse. If and when it gets worse, I will design a deflector to prevent the oil from hitting the exhaust pipe. I detest oil leaks and leaving a trail of smoke even more. (No trail of smoke at this time).
As of now, the leak is about a 1/4 of a teaspoon when I park the car after driving and there is a light coating of oil(rust inhibitor?) on the floor pan, just barely hitting the exhaust Y-pipe.
This morning, I packed some heavy duty foam between the block and the flywheel to soak the dripping oil.
I will take it on the road to get an idea of how much it is leaking while driving.
All things considered, I would rather use that money to take my grand kids on a trip during the summer vacation and still have some left over for beer.
I am already in the process of doing a GM conversion on another Series 3 that I own, so doing this one in the future with a more modern GM power plant will be in the works.

 

Let's not get too hasty. Before making any oil leak repair decisions ** make sure the breather system is clear **. If not, crankcase pressure builds up and pushes the oil past the (elderly and weak) seals. As often as not, cleaning a clogged breather will reduce oil leaks to a tolerable level....sometimes down to a mere drip or two.

I agree that pulling the engine just to repair a minor oil leak wouldn't be time well spent. I spent 40 hours a week surrounded by, and taking care of, older cars. If I tried to fix all the oil drips....well...I wouldn't have time for anything else.

Those old rope seals have always been a problem. I vividly remember when rope seals were still standard issue on many American engines....they were always leaky stinkers. Car dealers had drip pans on the floors of their new car showrooms. The Buick-designed 231/3.8 V6s engines were particularly notorious in that regard. We used to joke that we're sending our kids to college on money earned from replacing rope seals

Cheers
DD

 

The shop i worked in back in the early 90s had a trick for the old rope seal, we wold of course pull the pan and rear main, then using a brass drift force the old seal up into its recess using a new rope on bottom half and also taking up the space left by compressing the old one, on cars that pan access was easy this was a 30 minute job (not counting dropping the odd exhaust off of the buick v6 motors, went from one manifold across and into other manifold then all came out in a single exhaust! most peculiar..), sure wouldnt go that route if it meant dropping entire front suspension like on the jag though!!, luckily my only leak is from the steering rack tower, and being as im boycotting rock auto for poor customer service, until i find someone else that carries it, i will live with the leak!!

 

There is a lip-type conversion kit available, but, like the rope seal, needs the engine bottom end dismantling to fit. The crank has to come out and the scroll that bears on the rope ground off.


A big job !

 

@Doug: Crankcase breather in excellent condition. No back pressure whatsoever. It was one of the first things I did when I got the car. I even did the glove test (I learnt about this test working on my Volvo and it works for all normally aspirated engines) and there is negative pressure at the breather. Check that off the list.
Simple Glove test: Place a latex glove on the crankcase breather neck. Secure with a zip tie. Start engine. If the glove inflates, you have crankcase back pressure. If it tries to pull the glove in, you have negative pressure which is what you want.
@Darrenmb: I remember doing the rope seals that way. As a matter of fact I still have a set of the small "chinese fingers" that was used to remove and install the rope seal. I wish it were that easy on the Jaguar.
@Fraser: Doing the seal conversion will require the removal of the crankshaft, so I may as well go all the way with a complete rebuild, since I will have to work on both the front and rear of the engine for crank removal.

 

Yeah, when my 4.2 cooked, I investigated. Parts to rebuild.
Cost of a rebuilt long block. Doing it in house. Getting my
machinist son to machine. Ugh, no VW's or Jags allowed in his
shop. Although, in the past, he reluctantly redid a pair of Corvair
turbo's heads. Past fun with Odd cars like that. Renault Dauphines, included.


Some time after I bought the Jag, I stopped to visit at his shop.
Another guy was there, nice guy, except for his occupation,
a county building inspector. "Woe is me, my reputation is ruined, a Jaguar and a bureaucrat..."!!!


But, the Jag's esteem has grown. It is on his web site. As an LT1 powered Jaguar...


Naah, a bit of dripping oil, not a big deal, or even a small deal....


Carl