Hey once again

I own a Jaguar XK8 2001 that came from Georgia.

I will provide pictures, and I was hoping to get some wisdom based off them and the context. For the last week I've been experiencing hearing a slight grind at 1500 rpm in 4th and the 5th gear. And I noticed the car was leaving marks on my driveway from leaking.

​​​​​​Upon inspection I found the leaks on the trans pan, but come to find out it was trailing to it from the rear of the engine. I have confirmed the liquid is engine oil.

Now looking at this picture I started the engine, got underneath the car, and waited to see the leak, which only happens while the engine runs. I saw it drip from where the flywheel is.

But it isn't enough to trail down the exhaust and burn unless it increases with rpm. But I would like to know your thoughts and what I should do. Thanks! I can't see much from the top of the engine.











I would keep testing further to see where the leak starts but I don't have a lift and I can only lift the car up with ramps at the moment.

 

Let the engine cool and run your hand around the back of the valve cover on both sides. That does seem like a lot from that place but could happen.

 

Is it actually able to happen and drip
​​down that far? My guess was the seal between the transmission and engine was bad and may be where it was coming from after looking at the path of the oil trail. But I'll try that when I get back home

 

One of my XKRs (2000MY) has the 'oil gallery' plug leak. (I am pretty sure that is it)

I need to pull the gearbox and I will replace BOTH the engine rear main seal and oil plug 'gallery seal'.

All my sedans have been done because I replace the ZF 5HP24 forward drum when I get the car 'JUST BECAUSE'.

My XKRs don't have those gearbox faults so they get ignored until the oil leaks from the engine.

 

Wow, that's going to be one heck of a job then if it's that, it'll have to wait till summer as it's still like 30° F outside. I'm not even receiving a gearbox fault either or any codes relating to the transmission. I might have to keep toping it off till then. Do you know how much a job like that would cost in USD generally?

 

Jaguar warranty time was 5.3 hours when these cars were in factory warranty.
Real world time would be close to 9 hours for gearbox out and seals replaced.

Mostly retired and I have my own shop and car lifts so I pay no attention to current shop labor times or prices. (I guess I would charge myself 9 hours and parts cost?)

 

My guess is rear main seal as well.

 

Rather unfortunate, but at least I have an idea of what it is. I'll have another look in the morning and plan my further restoration from there. Thanks for all the help guys!

 

Rear crankshaft seal is my bet as well. It might be possible to change it by dropping the gearbox but engine removal might be a better option if a lift is not available.

Richard

 

Remove the starter and detach the torque converter which stays with the gearbox thro the starter hole.

 

Hey I'm finally about to have the car's rear main seal done and so as the galley plug. And I'm tasked with buying the parts. Could you help confirm what parts I should buy? I'm seeing the rubber main seal for 20$ USA and the galley plug on rock auto(not sure which one to get)

 

With this job, get the absolute best that you can. This is not a place to skimp.

EDIT: Looks like you can still get the OEM Jag part from Jagbits. Pricey, yeah, but this is one place I try to go OEM if I can. Changing rear main seals is such a ton of work for such a little, but important part. Worth it in my mind.

Note, I don't on this vehicle nor have I bought this part but I have gotten things from Jagbits before and so far so good. This was merely my suggestion if I had this vehicle and was searching for this part myself.

https://www.jagbits.com/product/AJ83744-OE.html

 

Do you happen to have a part number/link to the galley plug by chance?

 

If it was me, and with so much labor involved, I would clean as much of the leak as practical, drive the car a bit again, and re-assess. Oil leaks seem to sometimes travel in unexpected ways. You might get lucky and discover the leak is actually from some place else.

Best of luck, keep us posted.

 

Wonderful advice, about 2 weeks after the post was made I had done an oil change and cleaned the whole under side with brake cleaner. And confirmed it was coming from the area of the rear main seal. Leaking through the access hole. Then about last week after I got done blood work done I heard a crack in the cabin(sounded like something hit the windshield) and when I got home the oil was leaking out from that same area but now was significantly leaking way more oil.

After the car was off I jacked it up, cleaned off all the oil.. ran it until warm and it was a steady stream once again and saw it was coming from the same area, between the trans and engine. And would leak onto the exhaust and tremble down the trans pan like before. At that point I stopped driving the car and continued restoring what I could while stationary until I got my check to take it to the mechanic with the new seals. It's now scheduled for Monday.

Luckily the mechanic was a xj8 (2001) owner and is familiar with the transmission and engine and the job overall.

 

Yep, i did the same when i received the car, drum and both that plug and rear seal were leaking.

 

Update: Thank you for all the responses. As the specialist "motorcarman" stated, it was the rear main seal. I got both the plug and seal done. I was in the shop while they did it. And man.... It got so bad that the seal itself popped out and was gushing out oil. Replaced with a new seal and all cleaned up!


We also changed the trans mount while in there

Also trying to make an effort to update all problem posts I made. Since I see not too many others actually update after they fix or resolve the issue