1999 Jeep TJ Rear Main Seal replacement

This video shows the process it took to replace the rear main seal of my 1999 Jeep Wrangler with a 4.0L and manual transmission. The exhaust pipe prevented the oil pan from sliding out so I had to disconnect the exhaust pipe from the header which allow enough movement in the exhaust to remove the oil plan.
The replacement parts used are
Fel-Pro BS 40612 rear main seal set
Fel-Pro OS 34308 R oil pan gasket

[@KevinBuchanan66]

Scott, I just bought a 99 and it needs valve cover and RMS. This really did give me the information I needed. I feel confident doing the mechanical work, and based on your video it looks like it’s a small pain in a$$, but is do-able!! I just got nervous about getting that far into the engine, but your video showed me exactly what I needed! Thanks for taking the time and effort to record and post it!

[@birdsongty1]

Best step by step video yet

[@SplashyCannonBall]

This gives me the Confidence to do this myself. Well played.

[@ericwilliams2999]

Doing this tomorrow! Well done!

[@davidcrowson4745]

This was very helpful 👍

[@chrisclark3503]

Hey man....quick question. I just realized after installing my oil pan gasket on my 2000 TJ, I didn't push the oil pan gasket up into the grove in the back next to the rear main seal. Did I need to do that, or do you think the gasket seated properly when I tightened down the bolts? Make sense? Thanks for your time, and you did a great job with your video.

[@flyingmulerider7166]

Very good video - I assume everything sealed up OK?

[@scottrogillio1436]

There was some residual dripping the following week but everything sealed up and been working great for 6 months now.

[@ttvdstylez7372]

Hey Scott, I recently bought a 1998 Jeep Wrangler. Doing more inspection on it I noticed that the skid plate was missing 3 bolts on one side but had all three in the driver side. So I was thinking how is it in place but I saw that they went ahead and weld it..... my issue is that I need to replace the rear main seal and the gasket in the oil pan. But I was wondering if I would need to remove the skid plate ?? Please help. And if I need to some how remove the muffler pipe ?

[@scottrogillio1436]

I didn't have to remove the skid plate. The transmission is mounted to the skid plate. When I added a 3 inch lift I also lower the transmissions by inserting spacers between the frame and the skid plate, so you may want to unweld the driver side at a later time. The exhaust header collects to a single pipe which runs to the catalytic converter. That is what gave me problems. The coupling is only 2 bolts 9/16 if I recall correctly. I did unhook the hanger for the muffler and tail pipe to allow for more movement. The hanger brackets are insert into rubber pieces. Hope this helps.

[@ttvdstylez7372]

@@scottrogillio1436 thank you for taking your time and letting me know ! All these other videos I noticed they were removing the skid to get to real but I’m assuming since I have the original one there was no need for me to do that. But you went ahead and encouraged me this morning to get my project started ! And thankfully I was able to get that dam seal that was pretty challenging lol ! Now I’m on my way to buy the parts. I notice when I was removing the oil pan.. I literally put my ratchet and half a turn and they came lose .... from my understanding they supposed to be torque to a certain spec and also theres maybe 4 screws missing...

[@delfire32]

About how long did it take you? Obviously you were recording video so that adds on time.

[@scottrogillio1436]

I probably spent 5 hours total over 2 days. I wasn’t in a rush and the exhaust disconnect/ reconnect added a lot of the time.

[@joelafleur6423]

Whats the consequences of over torqued oil pan bolts

[@scottrogillio1436]

I would not imagine much if they are slightly over-torqued. The bolts need to be tight enough not to come loose. The oil pressure is low compared to cylinder pressure and torquing the head bolts.