I have an oil leak at the front, most likely the front crank
oil seal or timing cover gasket or cork sump seal if there
is such a thing. From the amount of oil I suspect crank seal.
Question is how do I go about it, I suspect, radiator out,
water pump off timing cover off. Do I have to drop the sump?
could anyone who has done this give me a ‘‘what to do and in
what order’’ list so that I can get my head around what seals
and gaskets I need to buy in advance.
I have a service manual but this only discusses how to do it
with the engine out and upside down.
Any help greatly appreciated.–
Nigels420G
Maple Bay, Canada
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In reply to a message from Nigels420G sent Sun 24 Jul 2016:
Nigel,
There should be a lot about this in the archives. On a 4.2,
easiest is dropping the suspension, the sump, the seal track
spacer and sliding the seal down and forward. You only have to
remove the timing cover on some earlier versions. It is always a
good idea to replace the spacer. The upgrade Teflon seal and new
Oring spacer work well on 4.2’s.
Paul–
The original message included these comments:
Question is how do I go about it, I suspect, radiator out,
water pump off timing cover off. Do I have to drop the sump?
could anyone who has done this give me a ‘‘what to do and in
what order’’ list so that I can get my head around what seals
In reply to a message from PS sent Sun 24 Jul 2016:
Is that what is also known as a Viton seal? I believe
Jaguar introduced these for the XK engines circa 1985 but my
memory of my time with Jaguar’s warranty department could be
wrong. I put one that I bought from Jaguar in my 3.8S and
it has been leak free for many, many years.–
The original message included these comments:
good idea to replace the spacer. The upgrade Teflon seal and new
Oring spacer work well on 4.2’s.
They make a new polyester nylon seal for the front. If the front lip of the oil pan has a recess for the seal, down it comes, Usually front timing cover off too, Can be done in car. Grille, radiator , fan, water pump and all fasteners off. Studs out of top of timing cover, drop pan, tilt timing cover over seal. Install backwards. The new seal is long lasting and must be installed with sealant to pan and cover and dry for 24 hrs. after install, no start up for 48hrs. to be safe. Did this in MK7 and MK1, have replaced seals with old rope in 120S. There are seals for the earlier cars that need pan and cover machined.
Thanks Jagfixer1 Great info. For anyone that needs it.
I discovered that I had an oil leak from the front lower dome nuts and copper washers, both sides of the rocker covers, and the oil was running down the engine and then dispersed by the cooling fan air. This is how it got everywhere and on to the crankshaft pulley, then assumptions set in!
I hadn’t noticed the oil leaks from the top because the oil is very clean and I guess with low light, scratched varifocals, (progressives), (since got new glasses), and gravity for ever pulling me on to my back on the floor, I jumped to conclusions.
It was only when I was fitting new plug wires that I discovered the real cause, thank goodness I did!
Lessons learned: Varifocals are a nuisance when working on cars. Don’t always assume the worst and jump to conclusions.Gravity is your enemy.
