Hi!
This is my first post! I've just purchased a '97 Disco I(4.0 V8)and have a badly leaking front oilseal. I'm new to Land Rover and thought I'd look for advice before I pulled that sucker out of there. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks Y'all!

 

How many miles on the truck, how mechanical are you?
I would suggest you power scrub the front of the engine really clean cause once you get in there, there will be other things to check such as your p/s hoses, cooler hoses, belt tensioner and idler pulleys.

 

There are loads of things that can be leaking on the front. If you are sure it is the front main seal, you can just pull the pulley and replace the seal. The oil cooler hoses and oil pressure switch are known to leak as well. I would do what Mike suggested and clean off the engine to find all of your leaks. Just watch the ECU on the passenger side...

 

Thanks for the responses. The truck has 116,000 miles on it and has been re-built. I'm unsure as to how long ago though. It shows that it has received the proper maintenance but the front seal was obviously improperly seated. The leak is quite obvious.
I'm very "Mechanically Experienced" (30+ years of 4-wheeling, mostly in Jeep CJ's) so I don't anticipate any real surprises, but any tips or advice will be most welcome. Thanks for any help.

 

I would replace the front crank seal and the cam sensor O ring that is situated directly above the front crank shaft seal,these O rings get hard and leak down onto the crank shaft area

 

I'll check that out. Thanks! Keep the tips comin'. I'll be tearing it down in the morning. I'm very sure that the prob. is the crank seal...I can watch it seeping from underneath at a fast idle. I lost about a quart of oil every 50 miles on the 500 mile trip home from Richmond, VA. Talk about a tedious journey!!
By the way, I can highly recommend the LR dealer in Alpharetta, GA! I called their parts dept. this morning and, after fighting my way through Atlanta, arrived there and the Parts manager handed me a pair of front seals (an extra, just in case) and refused to let me pay for them! He said I'd had a long drive and deserved them. Of course, he knows I've just bought a 10 yr. old LR and will probably be seeing alot of his parts department.....hmmm, go figure!