v8 oil leak

can anybody help me i have a oil leak on my 3.9 v8 auto disco .Its dripping from the front of the bellhousing .I have taken the inspection cover off the bottom of the bellhousing and there is no oil in there so its seems to be on the outside .Could it be the sump which has no gasket .If its possably this can you remove the sump without remving the track rod end which is advised in the haynes manual
thanks sean

removing track rod one end and swing out the way is easy bit

It is possible to remove the sump without disconnecting the track rod but it is better if you do. What you need to do is get a small bottle jack and place it on top of the axle and jack between the axle and chassis then place large axle stands under the chassis, this will give you clearance to drop the sump but you need to mess about a bit to get the sump out. The problem is when you put it back on, because the clearance is tight, you end up making a mess of the new sealant and you'll get a small leak. It only takes 5 minutes to take off a track rod end so it isn't really worth trying to do the sump with it in place.

thanks for the replies

yeah I just jacked the car up fookin high and let the axel hang, there was lots of room. that was on a rrc but im guessing they are the same.

Atleast whilst its leaking you know theres oil in there.....a standard LR indicator

before changing the wrong part first all land rover v8 from around 1990 dont have a gasket but silicone sealer.

i would steam clean the engine and run it then recheck for leaks just doing a p38a at the monent and it has oil leaking from the head gaskets running down the block looked like a sump reseal till i washed it and ran it again glad i did sumpa are not a nice job even on a 4 post ramp!

Mine (d2) is in for a steam clean next Tuesday. Hoping to find it's leak as its got quite bad now.