P38 Rear Main Oil Seal

My old girl leaks a bit and always marks her territory. I'm pretty sure its the rear main oil seal that is worn, dripping oil from the bottom of the gearbox bell housing. It's on my list of things to be done but obviously its got to go in for the gearbox to be removed to do it.

Question is, is this likely to go catastrophically with a bang or will it just gradually get worse until the pool of oil becomes too embarrassing and top ups too expensive? I'm hoping to let it go on for a couple of months but if the risk is too great I obviously need to do it now as I do some long runs occasionally (160 miles on the highway).

Any experience of this anyone?

Its unlikely to go bang or dump a sump full of oil in a few miles, my old series 2 used about 2 pints a month with general running around, because of a nackered rear main seal. Check your oil level regularly and top it up.


The up side was I just never had to do an engine oil change...............

when you do it replace the "T" seals too as it could be them leaking too.

Either way, it's engine or gearbox out to do it.
If you have an auto box then there is no chance of oil contamination in the clutch and apart from oil drips you should be okay for a while provided you can live with topping up on a regular basis and having an oily underside of your car.
The cost of replacement parts is minimal...it's the work involved that's the killer !!

Hi there, my beloved Old Girl has developed an oil leak after she went to a garage, and the mechanic steamed cleaned the engine bay ready for its MOT, and didnt tell me he had done so, and only found out a few days ago when i went to check the coolant levels and filled up screenwash bottle, thought I'd check the oil level only to find out there was no oil in the car!!! so I went and got 4 litres of Castrol GTX ultraclean (I know it its 6 ltrs, but I got 4 till payday) and thought that was close! Only to find small amounts of oil on the road where i parked the truck, so had to investigate and found the that the real of the engine block to the auto gearbox is wet with oil and a small drip, so I went on a few Land Rover Forums and there saying it could be the rear oil seals? so phoned a few garages to get a couple of quotes, and bugger me none of them would touch the job, they said take it to a specialised Land Rover garage, thats gonna cost me more than the trucks worth, so now im in a quandary. do I live with a leaky P38, or sell my very first Range Rover and say goodbye, or is there anyone who could suggest a mechanic willing to take this on, without making my eyes weep with the sight of hundreds pound notes leaving my bank!!

If a mechanic is incapable of stripping down a P38 engine then he should hang up his overalls.

The RV8 can leaks from many areas..

1) Valley gasket
2) Rocker cover gaskets "common"
3) Rear main oil seals
4) Sump gasket "common"

All of which will leave little spots..

How often do you check the oil?

All of the above is easy for the DiY'er well apart from the rear main, if you want to save some coin and not be reamed out by "specialists" do them yourself.

Henry_b said:

If a mechanic is incapable of stripping down a P38 engine then he should hang up his overalls.

The RV8 can leaks from many areas..

1) Valley gasket
2) Rocker cover gaskets "common"
3) Rear main oil seals
4) Sump gasket "common"

All of which will leave little spots..

How often do you check the oil?

All of the above is easy for the DiY'er well apart from the rear main, if you want to save some coin and not be reamed out by "specialists" do them yourself.

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I'd say rear crank seal common too although it rarely fails quickly or loses that much oil. Oil cooler pipes can lose oil quick.

Grrrrrr said:

I'd say rear crank seal common too although it rarely fails quickly or loses that much oil. Oil cooler pipes can lose oil quick.

Click to expand...

yes I agree it's almost guaranteed leak on the V8

Oil cooler pipes aswell,

Get yourself a cheap little mirror and a good torch. Get the engine cleaned down and running. Then start to inspect the rear of the engine for oil trails. The mechanic may have cleaned the engine because it was dirty and make it presentable for the mot? I'm pretty sure you'd have noticed the engine cleaned whether he told you or not? I would have done.