99 sport with 140k miles. I bought this jeep a few months back and I've noticed a couple of drops of oil on the garage floor. I looked under to try to pinpoint it and noticed a drop in between the oil pan and transmission so my first thought was rear main seal. However, after getting on the boards and reading for hours, I realized to check other areas like valve cover, sending unit, filter adapter, distributor gasket, etc.

So as I pop the hood and shine a light it "appears" that there is seepage from where the head and block meet on the passenger side???? Most of the block has a coating of oil on it but its not drenched. Could this be blowback from the oil filter adapter or sending unit??? Because there's oil in the area of those too. It definitely seems to be coming from below the valve cover. Jeep runs fine.

 

if it came from the head gasket chances are you would have other indications than just some oil drips. coolant in oil and the like. do you have oil on your starter motor?

best thing to do is get a couple engine degreaser cans, get under the jeep and just soak everything. wait 10 minutes and wash it off. wait a few hours or a day, and constantly check where the drip starts from.

my bet would be an adapter or filter o-ring. you can get a kit pretty cheap and replace them.

 

Valve cover gasket looks dry

 

Not unusual for head gasket to weep/wick a little oil. Clean it off and it should be quite awhile before you see much accumulation.

 

Yeah I just can't tell if that is what it is. I mean it looks like it's seeping out from there but then again, there's residue all around the oil pressure sending unit and adapter in the 2nd pic. I guess I'll degrease and check again later?

 

the only way to get a better idea is to degrease it. from your pics, I take back the o-ring suggestion, and like you said the valve cover seems fine. like badon said, if it is indeed from the head gasket and there are no other symptoms, you'll have to deal with it because digging into the engine only for a few drops wouldn't be worth it. if it gets worse though, you might have to look into it.

 

I just degreased it and the area is spotless so I should get a better idea of the culprit soon hopefully. There's no signs of coolant loss or coolant in the oil from what I can tell.

 

Same on my 98, 90,000 miles ago. I looked into it and found that part of the head gasket seals the gallery where the pushrods are and not directly where the cylinders seal. I let it go and I don't have to add oil between changes. You might want to change your valve cover gasket as it seems to be leaking a little and it's an easy job. Also looks like your filter adapter is leaking. Find the replacement gasket kit that has all 3 different "O" rings.

 

The valve cover gasket is dry as a bone so I'm not touching it lol. Knowing my luck it'd just cause more problems. I'll look into the filter adapter if I notice oil from there. It's cleaned up now so shouldn't be too long before it rears it's ugly head.

 

My jeep does the same thing. Always a little oily looking by the head gasket on the passenger side. It never leaks enough to drip and I've never seen any indication of oil and coolant mixing. I think you'll be ok.

 

I have noticed on my 2000 XJ that it seems to be leaking/ seeping oil from where the head and block meet as well. I have replaced the valve cover gasket and oil filter adapter gasket. This weekend I will be replacing my oil pan gasket and rear main seal. With that being said can anyone tell me where else is common areas that leak on our 4.0 liter XJ's? I would like to go ahead and replace any and all so I can maybe have a non leaking Jeep!!!

 

I've seen a lot of vehicles, including our jeeps, that leak right around the oil pressure sensor. If you take care of all those problem areas listed above you shouldn't leak any oil

 

Don't seal the engine too good. I like it to leak a little oil to coat the underbody and help prevent rust.

 

If it's actually leaking from the head like mine, fixing all those things won't fix the leak between the head and block. I degreased mine yesterday and noticed some droplets from the sending unit. I think I found my culprit. Squidd clean all that crud off your block and you should be able to pinpoint the issue. I never would have thought that the entire passenger side of the block could be covered due to a small leak at the sending unit. I'm changing it out this weekend. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

I cleaned everything down really clean the other day after replacing my valve cover gasket. And mine is definitely leaking from the head gasket. The oil sending unit is actually not leaking at all. lol