Right… so the auto 'box has nothing to cool it? That’s odd.
Before you disassemble, put some UV dye in the oil and run the engine until it starts leaking. You can use a UV light to see exactly where the leak is from.
This picture is from my V6 swapped MGB but I thought I had a leaky rear main seal - until I found out it was actually the back cam plate leaking.
1 Like
Engine oil cooler…No. Transmission oil cooler…yes. Guess I need to be careful to include my adjectives. SD
1 Like
Gotcha!!!
Now my life can go on.
The flywheel would obviously obscure the rear main oil seal, but with the area cleaned you would be able to ascertain whether the oil was dripping from behind the flywheel OR from the oil pan gasket, which was your initial query. If the oil trail comes from behind the flywheel the odds are it will be the rear main seal and the flywheel would then need to be removed to access it, at the same time, if there are any other sources for an oil leak behind the flywheel (looking at an exploded view on the JDHT parts site there doesn’t appear to be ) it should be easy to spot.
Clean out your crankcase ventilation system. Over time it becomes plugged with carbon blocking fumes from the crankcase being burned, pressurizing the crankcase and blowing oil out everywhere. Happened to me and my car has been fine since I cleaned out the system. The
fitting that the small branch hose off hose EAC7418 connects to is the problem. It gets plugged tighter’nabull’sa*s.clean that out and you’re good.
1 Like
Roger …
That thought crossed my mind. I’m fairly certain that I replaced or checked and cleaned all those hoses when I rebuilt the top of my engine a few years back but I’m not 100% certain so that’s on my to-do list next week. Thank you for the advice.
Hi, In my Haynes manual on page 6-13 the little troublemaker is called the “control orifice”. On the Jaguar parts website it’s clearly visible on the breather parts page, far right. The “control orifice” on my car was solidly plugged, after a good cleanout, no more oil leaks.
Good luck!
Still haven’t had an opportunity to investigate my oil leak due to the holidays. I did find this picture of the rear of an AJ6 engine …
Since I can visually eliminate any oil leak coming from the cam cover or cylinder head (red arrows) the only other thing down lower would appear to be the crankshaft housing and seal (green arrow). I’ve heard several mentions of a rubber plug in the rear of the block but I don’t see it in this picture.
I think the rubber plug is removed to gain access to the torque convertor bolts.
That plate over the rear cam bore hole can leak too but I guess you can see that’s OK? A shop towel stuffed in there would tell the tale (if there was one to tell!).
Looking at that picture, if the leak is coming from behind the flywheel it can only be either the main oil seal, or the gasket between the seal housing and block. As Larry has already mentioned the cover plate at the rear of the cylinder head is also a likely suspect, a drip from the bottom centre of it is very hard to see, and the trail would run down behind the flywheel and emerge at the bottom. I think his idea of placing paper towel at the base of that plate with the engine running if only to rule it out is a good one.
Happy Holidays …
When I recently rebuilt the cylinder head I removed the rear cover plate as a precautionary measure (it wasn’t leaking) and reinstalled it with a fresh gasket. I have a good line of sight to the top part of the rear of the engine and everything is dry all the way down below the head.
Weather has warmed up nicely so tomorrow I’m going to remove all the engine vent hoses and check for any blockage. I doubt that’s the problem (I’m not that lucky) but before I have the transmission pulled I’ll certainly check everything I can.
1 Like
Could it be leaking say at the sump or elsewhere and migrating to the area you’re seeing traces?
So I spoke with the mechanic and reviewed the work order and received a bit of clarification. Long story short, the engine did not have to be removed to fix the oil leak - there was other work done that led to the engine removal. The mechanic was a bit fuzzy on the details but said there is an oil galley with a plug and seal that was the source of the leak.
Looking at the picture of the rear of the block:
I still don’t have a clue. Showing my ignorance here (again) but what is this to which the blue arrow is pointing?
Mike …
I have no idea … but …
… my good friend who owns British Auto Specialist in Fort Worth has mentioned a plug back there so maybe that’s it. It looks like the block was possibly bored out and capped … perhaps. So another potential area for an oil leak ?
Spell check doesn’t help when the erroneous word is a correct spelling of a different word. Should be ‘gallery’ rather than ‘galley’. Sorry about that.
Well I final got the chance to take my car to my friend’s British Auto Specialist shop. They’re going to pull the transmission and see exactly what’s going on back there … stay tuned.
Staying tuned, but the reception is poor… 
any word yet? Inquiring minds want to know! 
1 Like
Mike … funny you should ask !
Very frustrated and disappointed. Without getting into details my car is back with me after sitting at a shop for a week with nothing being done. They informed me that the transmission would have to come out and they were too busy to do it.
This comes after me explaining in detail where the leak was coming from prior to bringing the car in and telling them the tranny would have to be removed ! Very frustrated.