A few Questions

Been looking for a leak under my jeep for quite a while. I could see lots of stuff puddling under it after a long drive. Climbed up under it and found the tranny was soaking wet from the top to the bottom so the leak could be anywhere. Didn't look too much further, but every now and again I'd climb under there and peer up into the area with a flashlight.

Sometime later, I noticed my clutch pedal wasn't engaging until it was almost at the floor. I found that I was extremely low on brake fluid. Aha! the leak must be in the brake line that runs to the clutch slave cylinder. Filled it with fluid and had good pedal on the clutch. Figured that was the problem.

Tonight I took it for a little drive and afterwards I climbed under it again with a flashlight and looked pretty hard. I found the culprit. All 4 of the bolts holding the shift tower were loose. Almost falling out. So....I removed the floor pan and tightened the bolts up. Low and behold the first one I tightened up broke off. It wasn't stripped or anything and I really wasn't putting that much pressure on it. Or....I'm just really really strong. Anyway, the other three tightened down good. Question: Am I OK with 3 bolts? or should I try the easy out?

Question 2: On the leaking brake fluid. I found that the line I suspected of leaking isn't leaking after all, but the master cylinder is leaking. Seems like it's coming out under the cap. Like the cap isn't sealing good. I noticed that the wire that holds the cap on isn't tight at all. Can I simply put a bend in the wire so that when I clip it over the MC cap it holds it tighter, or do I need to replace the MC? the rubber under the MC cap looks to be in really good shape. The wire just doesn't apear to be doing much in the way of holding the MC cap down tight against the MC. Sorry for being long winded...

Question 3: I've got a Chevy NV4500 Tranny. Is the speedo cable going to it any different than a standard jeep cable? My cable is busted. And it also seems like it's leaking. But then again, the fluid showing up on the cable could have been just dripping down on it from the top.

 

on the shift tower u should be fine but ill let someone else tell u 2 i don't trust my self all the time yes u can just titen up the bail on the MC u mite want to go ahead an get a new rubber could have a pin hole in it which would be really hard to see an would cause u to leak fluid under pressure

 

Baby John,

I think that you would probably be OK with only 3 bolts in the shift tower....for now. I (IMHO) would address the broken bolt during the next tranny service and/or project involving the removal of the floor panels or tranny.

As for the MC bail, try bending it a little bit to get it to hold more firmly, then drive the Jeep for awhile to see if it is still leaking. If not, then it's all better. If it still leaks, then it could point to a larger problem. You will probably want to replace your brake fluid with new fluid from an unopened bottle, as brake fuild is hydroscopic, and might have absorbed some water. If brake fluid can get out, then moisture can get in. Water in the brake system=possible brake failure


Hope you get it all worked out!

 

Thanks fellas. I'm probably not going to worry about it, but then again, if I ever get some spare time I might see if I can get it out. I pulled the old bolt out and it appeared to have a stainless shoulder on it and I figured the bolt must be stainless to. But from looking around on the web I see the shoulder is actually sleeve. The bolt itself is a very small bolt that must be a very soft metal, as easily as it snapped. Really glad I found that leak though. When I got this jeep there wasn't a single drop of anything coming from under neath it. This leak was at the very top and it completely soaked everything so I didn't have any specific place to look for it.

Now I've got the brake fluid leak and also a home made power steering line leak. I'm going to try to get all the leaks fixed. Can't stand them.

 

Go John, go!!!

 

Ain't but 1 way to fix all the leaks, John...

 

You know...from all accounts the Rubicon is an awesome vehicle! For a while I'd hear people bashing those "new jeeps" and saying they weren't good "old school" jeeps, but that Rubi with two electric lockers is just a tough dang jeep even in stock form. Throw some good mud tires on it and you're good to go.