Over the past couple of days, I noticed a strange noise occurring whenever I stepped on the gas, but it went away when I coasted. It wasn't anything major, but I finally decided to investigate. When I crawled under the Jeep, it looks like the transmission has been leaking oil. Although you can't tell much from the picture, the oil looked to be coming from the bottom of the transmission here:


Also, there are some spots over the transmission that look like they have oil on them as well (since underneath was fairly dirty, these slick spots really stood out:


Any clue what's going on? The leak isn't bad enough that I see oil spots in my garage, but it's bad enough to make me think there's a problem. It looks like I'll be making yet another trip back to the dealership!

 

Well, I was wrong - it wasn't the transmisison. I just got a call from the service manager and it turns out that it's the head gasket that's leaking. I really don't want them cracking my engine open, but I guess I don't have any choice. I tried showing them the TSB for the timing cover issue (http://project-jk.com/images/tsb/TSB_09-008-07.pdf), but he just brushed me off. Hopefully they know what they're doing.......

 

Did you notice any oil level changes. My oil level on the dip stick has dropped slightly over the past 1200 miles but I can't see any wet spots on my engine?

 

No, I never noticed a change in oil level, but I just had an oil change, so I really can't tell. I've got 11k miles on the Jeep, so if it's been doing it the whole time it's just a little bit at once. I couldn't really see it by looking down into the engine compartment - I had to get underneath to see the full extent of the leak.

I went and spoke to the mechanic this afternoon and he showed where the leak was and how it was flowing down over the transmission. The new gasket should be here tomorrow and I'll have it back tomorrow evening. At least that's what they told me.......

 

MDLOTT any luck getting the oil leak from the head gasket area fixed?
I still get the oil to show up where the head meets the block but it has never ran or dripped and I am at 3600 miles. Oil shows up at the left rear corner of the left side head gasket area.

 

They replaced the gasket and everything seems fine now. I'm going to crawl back underneath tonight to make sure it looks OK, but I've already taken it to FL and back without any issues.