main seal leaking

[jeepguy74]

hi all,

I just bought a 89 jeep cherokee and found the main seal is leaking. Would this also cause a vibration. Checked the u joints and they seem to be good.

How hard is it to change the main seal (rear)

any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Saudade]

http://jeepin.com/features/rearmain/index.asp

Read this and judge for yourself.

[rksnc]

Hay great link there. It tells it pretty good. Yea not to bad of job , boy they are alot of other ones out there that makes this one a piece of cake. But yea this will not cause a viberation.

[tblack]

Originally Posted by rksnc

Hay great link there. It tells it pretty good. Yea not to bad of job , boy they are alot of other ones out there that makes this one a piece of cake. But yea this will not cause a viberation.

No, not a piece of cake. I've not done it but have seen it done by a seasoned mechanic and he had a few choice words in the process that I can't repeat in this forum. I had to have the rear main seal, the oil pan gasket, the oil filter assembly O ring, The valve cover gaskets and the distributer O ring replaced on my '94 XJ and all those same gaskets except the distributor O ring replaced on my 2000 XJ at the dealer where I bought them. The '94 I bought used with 83,000 miles on it and it needed all that done right away. The 2000 ended up needing all that done at both 41,000 and 69,000 miles ( except the Main seal at 69,000). It seems to me these seals on the engines are cheap and poorly designed and should last the life of the engine. Maybe they could make them to where they are of better material but cost more. The main seal needs to be strong so you never need to replace it. No matter how easy the link described the job, it's not an easy job if you end up having to replace some dang seal every 30,000 miles. My total cost to keep my 4.0s not leaking would put a down payment on a house in Newport Beach, California.
tb

[rksnc]

Well I am a 30 year season mechanic with my own shop of 15 years now. I and my mechanic have no problems with theses jobs at all. I have a 89 Jeep Commache with 249000 miles on it and replaced the bearings and rear main seal 3 years ago and still doing fine. Oh yea This is the third Jeep I have own. And I compare this to others , yea piece of cake. Hay try doing at late model Ford, rear wheel drive car. Or try doing some front wheel drive , when you have to drop the engine and trans together before you can get to the seal.

[tblack]

[quote=rksnc]Well I am a 30 year season mechanic with my own shop of 15 years now. I and my mechanic have no problems with theses jobs at all.

I wish you guys were the ones who did mine. It's probably easy for you I am sure. Tell me what you think. I had both mine done at a Jeep dealer and both jobs took in excess of 12 hours. The '94 one time and the 2000 two times. The '94 was done free because I had just purchased it. But the 2000 cost me $650.00 for the oil leak at 41,000 that turned out to be the main seal and $913 at 69,000 that turned out to be everything but the main seal. Ouch! Okay I admit I exagerated, $1563.00 will not be enough for a down payment on a luxury home, but I'm sure you can see my point. And I baby these things. Oil, filter and lube job every 2,000 miles Everything else has been excellent though, no trouble at all.

tb

[rksnc]

Well I hate to say it but the dealer took you for a ride. If you could find someone with a Chilton or Motors Labor Guide you will find that the job show to only pay about 4.9 hours. Now you do the math with the dealership labor rate and see how bad they got you. Now there are times when I may charge more, but that is most likely on older Jeeps that may have alot of rust. Now some new car and trucks today have a full circle rear main seal and theses you have to remove trans to replace the seal. I would also say that you shouldn't have to repalce a rear main that much. There seems to be another problem or something was not done properly. But I would be down about it too. That is alot of money to what seems as gone to waste.

[tblack]

[quote=rksnc]Well I hate to say it but the dealer took you for a ride.

Rats.

tb

[Saudade]

OH MAN! Was that at OC Jeep?

I did my rear seal ('88) in under 4 hours. That included about 90 minutes of getting all of the old pan gasket off (what a pita that was). The others were changed out doing other fixes.

[tblack]

[quote=Saudade]OH MAN! Was that at OC Jeep?

Yes, OC Jeep. I should own stock in OC Jeep by now. They made a big deal out of the job like it was an overhaul or something. Do you think they owe me an OC Jeep Hawaiian shirt? I need to start turning a wrench again.

tb

[Saudade]

Wow, for the amout of money you've spent, I should give you mine.




<not>

[tblack]

[quote=Saudade]Wow, for the amout of money you've spent, I should give you mine.

Does it have deep pockets for the cash I need to carry around? All joking aside, I really love those OC Jeep guys. I am driving around a brand new 2000 XJ and would trust it with taking me on a trip around the world. The only problem is, I'm too broke to put gas in it. But it is reliable and I know It would bring top blue book if I ever sold it. The leasing Manager at OC Jeep tells me that after it gets 70,000 miles nobody will want it and I should trade it in for a lease on a new Grand Cherokee. But I don't lease because when I die I do not want it to say on my tombstone "Here lies tb who never owned anything, but he did lease a Jeep." Leasing is long-term renting as far as I'm concerned. I'm staying with what I own. I want to be buried in it so I can prove I did not give in to the leasing trend that is sweeping the nation. I know a lot of people with new leased Jeep Grand Cherokees, Hummers, Mercedes, ect and mortgages so high they will never own their car or home. I say to all of us real owners of Cherokees Be Proud! fix your own Jeep if you can even if you mess it up the first time. Its worth it. OK, that's it for my Bi-Cenntenial moment. I'm dusting off my tools.

tb

tb

[Saudade]

Yep, yep, yep. Got into that leasing thing myself. First a Blazer (back in '98) then a Durango ('01). When the lease expired we bought the Durango. Now, no more payments!!

People wonder when I'll get a new car, but I like my '88. It runs well, has what I need, and it's paid for!