Jeep Garage  - Jeep Forum banner

Possible causes for oil leak down front of engine?

36K views 69 replies 23 participants last post by  Barefoot 
#1 · (Edited)
I just noticed that my 2014 EcoDiesel has started to drip oil onto the garage floor slowly (perhaps a drop or two a day). Ugh.

Examination of the oil pan indicates that the oil is coming from above, rather than leaking from the oil drain plug. Examining the engine compartment it appears that oil is exuding from approximately the areas indicated by the arrows (the area, and below is grimy). Obviously this is all I could identify looking from above (e.g. the back of the engine wasn't examined).

Everything higher than that was clean to the "paper towel wipe" test, including the oil filter housing. Oil was changed five months ago, filled by volume (8 quarts), and dipstick shows fill level right at max (i.e. not above).

Ideas?

 
See less See more
1
#3 ·
Interesting. My guess was that it was overpressure within the engine somehow. If you look on the right and left, there are seams where the arrows indicate. I thought perhaps engine oil was being forced out.

That prompted my initial thought that somehow it was overfilled and then... something. I don't even know if this would be a typical presentation of an engine oil overfill.
 
#5 ·
Have mine in the shop now to replace the oil pan gasket. They say it is a 1 hour job. Have to remove the break calipers, and drop the front axel to get the pain off. Glad it is under warranty.
 
#6 ·
Make sure it's definitely oil (could it be a diesel leak), to be sure clean down the engine, then keep checking (every day) for leaks with regard to hard to get at places you should use a mirror so you can see, remove the engine cover under the sump when you clean the engine down..........leave it off and get under there and look as well.

That way you will be able to see and correctly say where the leak is coming from...............we're all just guessing otherwise I think....:thumbsup:
 
#8 ·
I don't know a thing about engines or mechanical stuff. Having said that I read a bit and seem to recollect an oil change takes a specific amount of oil.

It was my understanding that the oil level shouldn't be up on the full mark with the correct amount of oil.

Again I don't know squat but there was a vehicle manufactured in the US once which went to market with a 5 quart oil pan instead of the 6 quart original engineered and spec'ed. As a result of to little oil it formed sludge and engines died.

I think the correct amount of oil is critical in these modern day engines.

Good luck Mate.
 
#9 ·
Again I don't know squat but there was a vehicle manufactured in the US once which went to market with a 5 quart oil pan instead of the 6 quart original engineered and spec'ed. As a result of to little oil it formed sludge and engines died.
Sludge is usually caused by a poorly designed or defective crankcase ventilation system, low engine operating temperatures (stop start driving) or the presence of water in the oil, and can accumulate with use. Oil sludge that causes an engine to run poorly or even seize is a rare occurrence and typically happens only when oil changes have been neglected or if the car has been driven extensively with an extremely low oil level.
 
#13 · (Edited)
Roadkill make sure they fix this. I check my oil at every fill up and it stays constant. You of course want that too, and a dry, clean engine. I will check my engine front too for leaks.


Sent from my iPad using JeepGarage

2014 JGC CRD 3.0L Overland, white/tan, Quadra-Trac II, Quadra-Lift, 265/50 Forteras on 20X8s
► 2014-03-22 @ 10 miles
► 2014-12-20 @ 10,000 miles
► 2015-01-28 @ 11,295 miles: P20EE finally fixed
 
#14 ·
Roadkill make sure they fix this. I check my oil at every fill up and it stays constant.
I'll definitely post the denouement here. My knee jerk assumption is generally to presume I did something incorrectly even though I try to pay painstaking attention to detail (e.g. using a torque wrench to install the QuikValve a year ago, and adding the retainer clip for the QuikValve lever).

As for the oil level, I don't think this leak would affect it. Our Jeeps take literally two gallons of oil and it looks like my floor has accumulated four or five drops worth of oil over a period of... perhaps a week or two before I noticed the problem?

It's certainly not a constant rate. I wonder if the engine has to be run to force more oil out, or if it is intermittent and a gasket or whatever has swelled and stopped it. Either way, it hasn't dripped again in the past 48 hours while sitting in the garage waiting for the service appointment.

Related: what's the best plan of attack to purge engine oil from a garage floor? Fine kitty litter followed by Dawn and a scrub brush? Something else?
 
#16 ·
I dont agree that frothing would necessarily be your symptom of overfilling unlessit was more than 10qts.. The dealer put 10qts in my 8qt engine. I saw no signs of frothing on the dipstick oil but it blew out the upper oil pan gasket which they had to then replace which required removing the whole front end drive gear for them to fix it.
 
#17 ·
I am currently going through the same issue as you are Roadkill.
Mine has been in to the workshop three times to try and locate the leak - the last occasion was Wednesday this week and they had it for two days. Diagnosis is the timing chain cover.
Haven't had a good look at it myself, but from memory the timing chain cover will entail removal of the sump - and that in turn usually requires crossmember out, or even engine out.
It has to be fixed but I dread to think what may get stuffed up in the process. I barely trust these guys to change the oil.
 
#22 ·
My 2014 seems to be doing the same thing. Started to pull the skid plate to look, but up on ramps it was pretty clear that oil is leaking from the upper front and blowing back on both sides of the engine as gravity does it's thing. Mine is the most oil soaked on the passenger side. Guessing front main seal but not ready to take it in yet. Good luck!
 
#25 ·
As I prepare to pick up my new 3.0 in a few weeks, this does not sound great. However, a few leaks here and there does not make a mass defect. Hopefully it is limited to a bad batch of gaskets.
 
#28 ·
Helmet Metal Auto part Door handle
Text Font Document Paper
Metal


I also have a small oil leak, but as you can see from the service invoice, it is because they overfilled it with 10 qts vs. 8 qts. I called the dealer and they are going to do another oil change (hopefully following the correct procedure this time) and try to identify where the oil is seeping out. I assume it is coming from the pan gasket but not sure.
 
#30 ·
Roadkill:

If you still have the stains on your floor, try some purple power or orangeglo degreaser on the floor. I worked at an auto parts store back in the day and that's how we cleaned up our floors when stuff like that spilled. Worked in my garage when my roomate spilled his oil everywhere and only left a small stain behind (it was there a couple hours....)
 
#32 · (Edited)
Mine is going in on friday for engine crank seal .... 2014 5.7 hemi
Completely different engine than the EcoDiesel.

Mine required a full four days in the shop on an original two-day estimate for the timing chain cover gasket replacement, and I insisted on collecting it at that juncture... before they even took it on a test drive.

I can see the replaced gasket (there was no gasket visible there before, where the arrows point in the graphic in my OP), but it doesn't leak.
 
#34 · (Edited)
they say the engine definitely has to come out.
Interesting. They told me they replaced mine *without* having to take the engine out. Additionally, the further delays (from the 2 day original estimate to 5/4 days in the end) were at least partially due to them having to order more parts.

I've probably put another 500 miles on it post-repair and no further issues.
 
#36 ·
Gents,
I noticed a couple of oil drops on the driveway today and crawled under to investigate. The entire pan is covered with grime on both sides, and it is dripping off the drain plug. As with what Roadkill originally said, it appears to be leaking from the front of the engine somewhere, above the oil pan gasket. I can see a bit of oil on the front of the engine behind the pulleys, and also on the driver's side below the oil cooler. Betting it's the timing case. This will be the 8th trip to the dealership in 15 months of ownership (21,000 miles). I love the rig in so many ways, but damn. This is getting a bit old. Nearest dealer is 89 miles from me. Oh well. I'm sure they'll get it fixed.


You guys that have already had the timing case gasket replaced..... any further issues?


thanks,
Wiley
 
#37 · (Edited)
Gents,
I noticed a couple of oil drops on the driveway today and crawled under to investigate. The entire pan is covered with grime on both sides, and it is dripping off the drain plug. As with what Roadkill originally said, it appears to be leaking from the front of the engine somewhere, above the oil pan gasket. I can see a bit of oil on the front of the engine behind the pulleys, and also on the driver's side below the oil cooler. Betting it's the timing case.
Yeah, just lead in with that suggestion when you get there. My dealer couldn't confirm it on the first trip so they added UV dye and had me come back a week later after driving it around.

The problem is that the oil leak hits the belt and gets sprayed around. However, if you look at the image in the OP I'm betting your engine will be clean on all areas above those two diagonal seams. Wiping a paper towel on various surfaces to check for oil or grime will elucidate.

You guys that have already had the timing case gasket replaced..... any further issues?
Well, it hasn't even been a month yet. The original leak took 18 months to develop. But so far, so good.

Be sure they apply the RRTs for the P20EE stuff while you're there (latest release was on 27 May). Also, there's a TCM flash TSB they can apply but might not be automatic unless you request it.

Good luck. Don't let them give you any bullshit about "Chrysler only comps for five days of rentals" if their repair for this takes longer than five days.
 
#38 · (Edited)
Thanks for the info. Hopefully they can get it whipped out in less than 5 days. Would suck to have it stuck in their shop for more than that. Of course, when I get it back the first thing I'll do is change the oil and filter to clean out all of the dust and debris and crap that the 20 year old "diesel tech" allows into my precious and expensive engine (I work in the diesel engine business and see some horrific stuff in dealer shops). This makes me cringe to think about.


Luckily my dealer has been pretty good to me (knock on wood) regarding rentals and such. I always go to the same service advisor at the dealer. And I always give him 10s on my survey answers. Perfect scores weather deserved or not. Due to that, he takes pretty good care of me it seems.


Already had the NOX catalyst (SCR) replaced. But will ask them to do all of the recent updates. They usually do those for me proactively anyhow


Cheers
 
#40 ·
We had a similar issue, but feel like it was directly related to the dealer putting in 10 qts of oil instead of the required 8 qts of oil. When I took it in to rectify their screw up, they insisted that the leaking oil was the result of three bolts in the front timing cover that also go into oil galleys that did not have sealant on them from the factory. When I pressed him on it, he insisted that they have had to do the same to at least a couple of other EcoDiesels. I took this all as a bit of CYA, but since they drained out two quarts of oil and placed sealant on the three bolts in the timing cover, the drips on the garage floor have stopped.

Helmet Metal Auto part Door handle


Black Sky Cloud Atmosphere Floor
 
#41 · (Edited)
Add me to the leaking oil list!! First noticed the leak around 11,000 miles with oil on the garage floor. When I took the Jeep in to fix the P20EE code (2nd time) I mentioned the oil leak. Service said they cleaned the engine with brake cleaner and could not find a leak, they blamed it on the oil change tech doing a sloppy job on oil change at 10,000 miles.

I called BS, when I got home with it, couple days later, and looked at the bottom of engine, oil was everywhere. I degreased it all and hosed it down, it started to collect at bottom of engine within a few days.

I need to check the oil change receipt on the correct oil amount used. When I take the Jeep to the dealer for the final fix of the P20EE, they WILL fix this oil leak!
 

Attachments

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top