someone identify this engine/trans issue

[Burton58]

last night i drove my jeep for the first time in about a month. i let it warm up before going anywhere.

after a few min while taking left turns there was a severe grinding noise and i couldn't pin point where it was coming from so i took it home. it has been driving badly for awhile now so i just left it at that till today.

today i noticed a huge pupple underneath from between the trans bellhousing and the motor. turns out it is cracked/separated

can anyone tell me if this is a mounting point that has separated the trans from the engine or if it's cracked in half





and the lovely puddle

[OTTE]

I think that is the rear main seal.

[Burton58]

so what it just separated from the trans? i've never done a rear main so idk what is broken here and what isn't. it was grinding so profusely i feel like the trans is pulling the rear main out of the engine.

[Lawn Guyland]

yucky

[clean4drxj]

i'm pretty sure that a rear main seal, not sure whats involved in replacing it but i'm pretty sure you can do it with the motor in chasis

[XJLI]

pull that flywheel cover off and check the flywheel bolts for looseness.

[crosbike]

looks like your oil pan cracked. i have never heard of that before but it certainly looks like it. not sure why it would happen either.

[Burton58]

thanks guys. i'll take a look at the flywheel and see whats going on when i get the chance. the puddle seemed to be oil/coolant. could be a cracked oil pan and freeze plug leak or something stupid...

i'm moving soon so if this is any type of serious the jeep may get parted

[XJLI]

i dont think the pan cracked, it locks like the flywheel cover is the problem, and then maybe it hit the rear main? either way, es no bueno.

[Burton58]

hmmm idk when i'm gonna be able to check on this. i don't exactly want to do a rear main on a jeep with 268k miles either since its just gonna blow up anyway. i'm not even sure if the jeep is coming with me....

keep the insight coming guys.

[Zullock Holmes]

yeaaa it looks like your oil pan cracked somehow.... i can't imagine how that would happen. at first it kinda looked like the engine was seperating from the trans but i can't imagine how that would happen without some serious stress put on that area.

A rear main leak wouldn't cause that to seperate like that, at least mine never looked like that. and regarding rear mains, they are really simple to change on an xj. its a 2 piece seal so you don't have to drop the trans. just pull the oil pan off and be careful when working around the crankshaft not to nick it or anything.

[wannabejeep]

need bigger speakers, and stop lookin under there.






oh wait it's not a freep. My bad.

[Burton58]

thinking about this more, the oil pan in the pics is on the top. where it looks like it's cracked is the transmission side. so maybe the flywheel plate cracked? i have no freakin idea

[Burton58]

need bigger speakers, and stop lookin under there.






oh wait it's not a freep. My bad.

ya know i was even debating giving this body/engine/trans to you if i end up parting it

[XJLI]

thinking about this more, the oil pan in the pics is on the top. where it looks like it's cracked is the transmission side. so maybe the flywheel plate cracked? i have no freakin idea

das what i said. oil pan looks fine to me. i bet the bolts backed out of the flywheel and starting hit the cover (making the noise) and then cracked the cover. its a pita (and messy) to get the cover off but its easy. i had to retighten my flywheel bolts in the school parking lot.