hey all,

i'm guessing most of you probably do your own work on your jeeps, but does anyone know a decent mechanic in lax/el segundo/mb/hb/rb/ torrance or surrounding areas?

currently, my zj is leaking all kinds of fluids (oh yeay!) and i wanted to see if there was anything that can be done for it/ how bad it really is?

thanks for the help :)

hhrrmnnn

the guys here might be able to help you troubleshoot what the problem is...and Im sure one of them can point you in the right direction to a good mechanic.

Chris will be back late tomorrow from racing.

Tam

hhrrmnnn

the guys here might be able to help you troubleshoot what the problem is...and Im sure one of them can point you in the right direction to a good mechanic.

Chris will be back late tomorrow from racing.

Tam

awesome thanks :) !

i've known its been leaking engine oil and tc fluid for a while (back in pa before i moved here) but only here have i noticed actual puddles (and before i didn't have a driveway to park in).

What size motor do you have, my guess is the 4.0L 6cyl. Can you tell where the engine oil is leaking from? if it is coming off the back trans mounting point, right where the engine and trans connect, it could possible be the rear main seal(which do like to leak on the 4.0s) or it could be the valve cover and possibly the oil filter. Can ya give us some more info? that way we can somewhat pinpoint it and you might be able to fix it yourself.

yeah i have the I6. i crawled under there and the underside is all black and oily, which can't be good, haven't gotten a chance to clean it up yet. i had the valve cover and a seal replaced in march.


i did snap some pictures (http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2125494822)

hopefully i'll have more insight once i get it cleaned up.

Looks like engine oil. Brown not pink
Check you PVC valve. Located top of your valve cover and has a vacium line tied to it. Pull it out and it should rattle. If not replace it (couple bucks) This vents your gases that build up inside the engine. If this fails, oil is blown out every where.
This would be the first thing I would look at. Before you wash you engine take a good look at it. The oil leak will be where the freshest looking oil will be. If its a rear main seal thats a differant story.
:2:

i was looking in my haynes (because i'm a newbie) and i found a pcv, but that's on the v8s, so i've got a ccv. so i went out there to get a better idea of what it was talking about and i noticed this (http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=2125270591) . would this have any effect on my situation?

thanks for the info/help/patience.

That should not affect it. What probably happened was the tube broke and someone put in a piece of hose to fix it. It could be several things. I would check and clean the CCV system. Lookie here: http://www.off-road.com/jeep/cherokee/98/04_apr/valvecover/cover.html and http://www.off-road.com/jeep/cherokee/xjtech/engine/40ltr/blowby.htm. If that mess is all cloged up the pressure in the engine has to go somewhere. I would start with with a good cleaning, and the try a new valve cover gasket. If that doesnt fix it, replace the rear main seal ( I would do it anyway, because I can). If you suspect the t-case it maybe the input shaft seal, housing seal, output shaft seal, and maybe the speedo gear hole. I doubt its the t-case, cause the fluid is nice and brown. good luck. :D

i was looking in my haynes (because i'm a newbie) and i found a pcv, but that's on the v8s, so i've got a ccv. so i went out there to get a better idea of what it was talking about and i noticed this (http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=2125270591) . would this have any effect on my situation?

thanks for the info/help/patience.
Dont feel bad about lookin at the manual, I live by'em. looking at your picture the front 3/8"hose is vented to the airtake going towards the back there will be another 3/8" hose If my memory services me right that would be the part PVC or CCV valve.

Talking with some freinds, They think it might be the valve cover gasket. If you have a small mirror and a flashlight look around the cover and see if you see fresh oil. Towards the back of the engine it gets tough to see around the edges, Adjust the mirror where where you can see the cover and then shine the flash light at the mirror the mirror does to things puts the light where it needs to be and than to can see where the problem (if One) is in the mirror.
I hope this helps?
Dan

okay, so i was pullin and pulling on that ccv hose and i couldn't get it to come loose, but i did get it to open up at the tubing fix and there's a vacuum there.
looked around and didn't see any oil near the valve cover or the top of the engine (air filter had no oil either). it seems most of the oil is near the oil filter and thereabouts from what i can tell, i poked around a little (haven't cleaned it yet because its parked in the street ) and i got some semi fresh looking oil somewhere near the filter. two oil changes ago i was low i think a quart of oil, so i'm guessing its not the filter being on wrong (unless the oil change people are continutally are putting it on wrong, lol).
ah yes i just remembered, sometimes it smells like oil is being heated up/burning. kinda freaked me out at the beginning because my previous vehicle caught on fire.

maybe in the next few days i'll get a space in the driveway and clean it all up. its probably some seal or something a little too complex for me to handle.
thanks for the guidance :)

let me start out by saying it's been a long day.
i probably should have taken the jeep to be looked at earlier (was holding out for some cash flow) because i got towed home today :( .

basically i was driving on the 405, heard grinding like a piece of metal was hanging off the jeep and dragging on the road, rpms were up at 4 for the quick glance i got before i realized i should get off the freeway ~ figures, the one time its not stop and go traffic :rolleyes:. stopped at gas station #1, nothing out of the ordinary under the jeep or under the hood for my untrained eye, kept going the jeep is still acting weird, stopped at gas station #2, as i'm pulling into the station the jeep stops responding to the gas pedal... barely making it into the entrance of the station. a nice man at the gas station checked fluids, besides low oil, nothing else seemed too out of the ordinary. time to call triple a.

now its sitting outside of my house waiting to be taken somewhere to figure out what's going on. i'm guessing its the tranny or something related to that but hoping that it is something less expensive!

I have a shop in Hermosa Beach, and would be glad to look at it for you. 1017 Aviation Blvd x/street is P.C.H. and Aviation 310.372.7800

thanks freewaydan!

when you said you had a shop in the "where are you from" post, i got curious to know what kind of shop you had. i've probably driven past it numerous times.


had your post been a few hours earlier, i definitely would have taken my jeep there. around 1pm today i had it towed to atlas transmissions.

i'll keep your place in mind next time the jeep needs help (no offense, but hopefully not anytime soon).

:)

Well good luck with the jeep, let me know if I can help at all

thanks again freeway :) !

i'm still waiting to hear what they found/how long it will take. ohh do i miss my jeep!

What did they find out about your jeep?

the short story is that it isn't done yet, so i figured i'd try to get all the details when i picked it up. they rebuilt the tranny and put a new seal on the tcase so far. i'll find out some more hopefully tomorrow if its done.

so i got the jeep back thursday afternoon with a long list of things they had rebuilt/replaced, basically because things were worn, my tranny fluid was burned, etc (i have the whole list, just don't feel like typing it out now).

friday: yet another long day....

so driving home today, i hear the metal sounds again and just know what's coming next. the whole problem starts all over again (but this time i'm not on the freeway because i knew it was coming). pull over in a parking lot, call triple a, play phone tag with them, have a towtruck pass me, flag down a few triple a trucks and finally, 3 hours later i get towed back to the same shop (yeay warranty). i didn't even have it for 24 hours.

so it seems to only have problems when its warm, same signs as before. so.. assuming the tranny shop knows what its doing, what else could be the problem? fuel filter? anything?

in the 3 hour time span of sitting in the parking lot, i got 12 (battery disconnect..knew that) and 33 "air conditioning clutch relay circuit. an open or shorted condition detected in the air conditioning clutch relay circuit." what does that mean in english or could that be anything related to my problem?

thanks in advance