azreddog

Greetings
I am new to the forum but not new to jeeps. I have a 2015 Jeep Wrangler Sport ,3.6 auto, 75000 miles, 3 inch lift 35 inch tires. Purchased a few months ago, I noticed oil leaking at the back of the engine running down onto the transmission and making a mess on my driveway. After reading numerous threads and noticing oil pooling in the engine valley I believed it to be the oil cooler/filter housing. I used the Dorman all aluminum cooler filter upgrade. The repair was not hard at least I thought. After the replacement I still have an oil leak that appears to be coming from the same area. I pulled the assembly out and replaced all the seals as well as the actual finned cooler a second time. Still leaking oil. I can leave it idle and never notice a leak, however I can drive a few blocks and it appears to be leaking badly. There will be oil on the oil pan, trans and crossmember, I have pulled the rubber trans plugs and it appears bone dry at the rear main seal. I have wiped everything down of most oil, let the vehicle idle while I am checking every thing and there is no sign of an oil leak. I have all new seals and was planning to give it one more shot before I take it to a shop. I am fairly competent , I have rebuilt several vehicle and this seems like it should be a simple repair. The only thing I have not done is put dye in the oil in an attempt to find the leak. When I first purchased the jeep I replaced two cams, all rocker-arms and valve cover gaskets. The EGR was an absolute pain to remove and replace.

Any thoughts on what else could cause a leak like this

Thanks
azreddog

resharp001

dang. this might be a time that a borescope could be handy to get down in the valley and see if you can spot where it is specifically coming from. You sound more than competent so have to think the sensors are seated properly and the cooler is seated properly. I can't recall seeing anyone report issues with that Dorman aluminum unit. Think there's a chance maybe you just got a defective one that was manufactured out of tolerance on part of it that seats?

azreddog

Tried last night to put a bore scope in the valley. The camera head on the unit I have ia too big to fit down in there. I cleaned everything up last night and ran the engine at idle. The only place that is wet with oil is pass rear valve cover and it looks like it is coming over the top from the valley.

azreddog

I just spoke with the tech support at Dorman. They advised the units are on backorder and he is not sure why. So even if there was a defect I could not get a replacement unit for at least a month. They did not have any information as to any problems with the units or if there has been any defects noted. He suggested resealing, which I have done. He also recommended replacing the cooler or finned part, which I have also done. I may have to buy the factory plastic unit and install it to see if that fixes it. This is getting old

Does any one know if there is a way to pressurize the oiling system with the intake off. I know on older V8 motors you could pull the distributor and use an electric drill with an adaptor to pre-oil the system.

Jeepsr4me19

You can spin the engine and pressurize it that way. Just run a trigger wire to the starter and touch it to the + on battery. Make sure nothing is over or can fall into the intake runners on the heads, cause it will suck it right in.
I vacuumed out all the oil and coolant when I did the housing change and it was A LOT. I even used brake clean to spray untill I got it dry and clean. I did that so I could tell if the new one started leaking. I bought one of the cheap 99 buck housing deals and it was hard to get in that front hole. I pushed on it hard and finally it popped down in there. I am regretting going cheap there, but had little choice with no parts around of high quality. My old filter housing was fine and only needed the lower seals swapped. Found that out after pulling it. But did not want to chance it so used new one.

azreddog

Good info on spinning the motor to pressurize the oil system. Mine was leaking so bad that justb
driving a few miles would leave oil under the jeep. I cleaned the valley out using blue shop papertowels to soak up everything. I ended up installing a factory mopar plastic unit in place of the dorman unit to see if that would fix it. So far so good. But it may take a few drives to fill up the valley before it starts leaking out the back over the top of the bell housing.

I am keeping my fingers crossed. If it leaks this time I will try preassurizing the system with the intake off.

Thanks

b00128806

Very interesting. Mine is a 2015 JK and it leaked 2 years ago. Covered under warranty (they only changed the gaskets). now its leaking again. I was considering the dorman replacement but I wanted to find out if its a permanent fix. apparently not. The sources of the leaks vary it seems but here is the possible leak spots I've identified:
1 - Body warping. (ruled out in your case since you replaced with aluminum)
2 - Body plugs. ultrasonically welded plugs. (ruled out in your case since you replaced with aluminum and these are threaded plugs)
3 - Sensor plugs. (locktight or Teflon tape on the threads is not handling the heat/cold)
4 - Cooler. Faulty cooler but this is unlikely to be the source.
5 - cooler to body gaskets. (Gaskets not handling extreme heat/cold or cooler not tight)
6 - Body to engine block gaskets. (gasket not handling the extreme temperature or different expansion between plastic and aluminum, in your case expansion is not an issue).

This is definitely an extreme temperature related. Both times this happened to me weather was a prolonged -40 degree C with the jeep parked for over 2 weeks with no starts. you don't seem to have this problem but you might be on the other end of the temperature spectrum, the +40 degrees on yours.
from my leak, it seems this leak is from both gaskets in 5,6 based on the oil spotting. so I'm thinking is is a gasket issue, hence the dealer gasket replacements.

when you installed the dorman, did you install the mopar gaskets or the gaskets that came with the dorman cooler?
also on your last mopar cooler install, what values did you torque the screws that hold the assembly to the engine block to?
Hope yours is fixed permanently.

azreddog

So far the mopar unit has not leaked at all. So hopefully it is fixed. I used the factory torque specs when I installed the mopar unit. I think it was 106 in/lbs. As far as temps, it does get rather hot in phoenix, so temp could be a factor, but the issues with the dorman unit have been with mild temps. I used Felpro seals the first time and the ones that came with the Dorman unit the second and third time.

I thought the Dorman aluminum unit was going to be the end of my oil leak issues, but I was wrong. It actually leaked worse than the original unit. So I called Dorman. They sent me a new set of seals. I also installed a new cooler thinking maybe it was the cooler itself. It still leaked after a few short drives. I mean really leaked not just a few drops. I called Dorman again thinking I may have been doing something wrong or a faulty unit They could not send me another unit as it was on a national backorder. That is the only reason I even thought about installing a new factory unit.

The interesting thing was the Mopar unit had the seals already installed like they were glued to the unit. I did not try and pull them off, but you would think in shipping they would have come off. Maybe I should have used something to glue the seals to the Dorman housing.

Hopefully this fixes mine for a while. Good luck with yours. On a side note I can now remove the intake and install a cooler in about two hours.

b00128806

Update took into the stealership. Had them replace the oil cooler assembly complete with new sensors, gaskets, etc. Have it for about 3 weeks, leaking again (definitely oil and I'm losing coolant). This time the cold/hot weather is ruled out. the weather has been mild the day i took it in and last 3 weeks. The sensors are also ruled out. The whole unit came pre-assembled with lock-tight. interestingly, interesting fact, I've asked the dealer to save the old assembly, and they "mysteriously" lost it right after they changed it so I'm assuming they are instructed not to hand it out.

a brand new assembly leaks after 3 weeks, Also the leak is not coming from the assembly gaskets (cooler to body). this leak is coming from the gaskets where the assembly mounts to the engine block (zero old spots on cooler). I'm 100% sure this is a gasket fitment issue.

I'm go back to the stealership, since this is warranted work for 2 years. my personal guess is either the gasket installation was shit, or the screws were not torqued proper. I'll keep ya posted.

Ricktor JKU

Seems to be leaking from transmission vents right near the oil pan plug. But also some smaller spots in other areas up toward the driver side of the undercarriage there seems to be some possible damage to some hoses but unsure. I just replace the oil coolant cooler filter housing with the aluminum dormant one. Here are my specs from J scan at idle do any of these oxygen sensors or evap readings seem really off and can anyone diagnose the issue just from looking at these or guide me and what direction I should be looking at based off of what these reading show????

These are sitting at idle parked after driving for about 1 hour or so. Anyone that can view these specs and readings and guide me in the direction that I should be looking at will be greatly appreciated thinking that I might have messed something up with the oil filter housing and need to put new gaskets on the upper and lower intake manifold but could be a blown gasket or seal. Not sure