1992 LJ73 2.4L TD Oil leak issue (3 Viewers)

[TheSquare]

Hey!
I recently bought this vehicle and it's running well and in overall good shape as far as I can tell.
Some time within the last couple of weeks it started leaking oil however. Still investigating where from exactly.
It does seem to be coming from somewhere around where the dipstick goes next to where the turbo connects to the engine. Then seeps down from there and coats everything on the way... It drips from the bottom of the sump, where the gearbox mates with the engine, and several other spots. Which leads me to believe it's coming from the top and getting splattered around. Mainly the left side of the engine seems to be coated in fresh oil. But I'll be cleaning the crust off with brake clean so I can more clearly see what's what.

Cursory googling suggests I might be dealing with bad gaskets or seals (and I'd like to avoid tearing down the engine if there are easier things to check first), or some excessive gas pressure in the engine which causes the dipstick tube to spurt out oil. But my experience with this engine dates back only a few weeks and I haven't worked with turbo-charged engines before either, so I can't say what part that might play in this.

Maybe the car was already leaking when I bought it and it's gotten worse since then to the point I only noticed it now. There have been no noticeable differences in the behaviour of the car over the last 7-800km though, but that might not be enough to be able to tell. For now I will keep driving it and keep a close eye on the oil level and pressure gauge. Right now I don't know how much oil it's actually leaking, only that is does so only when running. But without doing a couple of oil changes I can't know for sure how bad it is. Main thing is that it doesn't lead to a bigger issue down the line, and I guess it shouldn't as long as there's still enough oil?

Surely this is just the beginning of finding all the lovely secrets of this car. I'm in love with it though, and more than willing to put the time and money into keeping it in good shape. Out of the faults I know of, this is the only one that is potentially critical so far. Any resources or suggestions on how to diagnose/fix an issue like this?

 

[Rigster]

Sounds like you are on the right track of cleaning things up first so you can actually see what's what.

Until then, I would suggest to start with checking the oil feed and return lines from the turbo. Is the dipstick leaking where it goes into the motor? Check around the oil cooler as well, anywhere the oil travels and it's connections. If you have not already, download the service manuals from the resource so you know what to look for.

Once the block is cleaned up, you will be able to see if it is a valve cover gasket, or, hopefully not, a head gasket. Is oil coming out of the bell housing? Then you would be looking at a rear engine seal, which is more common than a head gasket to leak.

Best of luck finding this gremlin and hopefully it is not too arduous to mitigate!

 

[TheSquare]

Yo, thanks for the advice!
Do you have a link to those resources? If anything, googling it gives me too many results and not sure what to look at.

The leak around the dip stick seems to be from the top of the tube as opposed to where it connects to the block. There is oil gathering on the bell housing, but I'm hoping that's because the oil ends up running there because it's a low point it can drip from.

Extensive tear downs are not in the cards atm. I've got very limited space to work on it. But I'll be setting something up at the in-laws cabin next year. It seems that would be wise, given this leak

 

[AirheadNut]

Look under the "Resources" tab here on Mud or check the manuals thread at the top of the Diesel forum here. There should be 2L-T and 2L-TE manuals there.