aw2657

My 2008 Jeep JK 2door Rubicon has had a slow drip of oil for the last month or two. After reading all the great posts on what it could be I decided it there's a good chance it was the oil pan gasket and the drips were coming from the dust cover between the transmission bell housing and the engine. After pulling off the oil pan I found a large piece of metal about an inch and a half by three quarters of an inch. I have no idea where it came from and the jeep seems to be running fine with 113K miles on it. Does anyone have any idea what that part might be and if I will be okay without it? I've never torn into a jeep engine before and it doesn't look familiar to me. Thanks!

Seizer

Imma go out on a limb here and suggest that it was hopefully a forgotten part during assembly, that Joe forgot to remove when it was bolted together. I fix airplanes for a living and have come across some strange left over bits during inspection tear downs. I found wing mount bolts, extras, left inside the area where a fuel bladder goes. All wing bolts were still installed it must have been a forgotten part. I also found a nice engineer hammer inside a different aircraft's fuel bladder. Go figure sometimes people forget!

I sincerely hope that is the case with your find, but stay on top of this and someone who has far more JK knowledge than I do, will have a better answer.

I assume everything is back together too? If not inspect the heck out of it with a good flashlight and mirror just to be sure.

steve_bk

That's from the lower intake manifold gasket. I replaced mine 3 months ago on my 07 after leaking coolant. That sits in the corner of the front and back of the manifold gasket there are 2 of those that sit right under that gasket.

ronjenx

aw2657

Wow! That's exactly what it is (was).... Any idea how it might have gotten into the oil pan and I wonder what kind of damage it might have caused? I'm hoping it just fell through while someone was building or working on the engine but the fact that it's broken into three pieces tells me it probably was tossed around in the crank. Thanks so much for your help!

Rednroll

Well, has anyone ever replaced the lower intake manifold gasket? That would likely be the only way that piece could fall into and through the engine. It's not able to move with the lower manifold sitting on top of that piece.

This is what it looks like under that gasket. So it must have traveled through there and some how made it's way into the oil pan.

2drsport2011

Did replacing your upper oil pan gasket fix your oil leak problem that ran down the front of bell housing area?
I'm going to do mine for the first time and am hoping its not the rear main seal.
That divider plate between transmission and oil pan has oil covered but not dripping on the ground?
There is some kind of sponge backing that is full of oil on that divider plate or dust cover?