I have good access to the top end while doing my fuel rail project so it is a good time to take care of the banjo bolts. There are four banjo bolts at the back of the engine as shown in the attached picture. At the rear of each head, at the center oil sender pedestal and the lower one just above the oil filter.
These are notorious for leaking. The bolts at the right head and top center were leaking on my car. I decided to replace the other washers as well while back there. One of the reasons that these leak is that the copper washers on the head bolts are very thin. I decided to upgrade all the copper washers with Dowty washers which should seal better.
A design issue with the bolts at the head locations is that the hole does not line up well with the oil channel in the collar. Here is a good description of the issue from The Book. I purchased a couple of new bolts that looked like the hole was in the right location in the pictures, but when they arrived they were no better than the originals. I added a second pair of holes in the correct location.
And installed
It is very tight back there. Lesson learned….drop something when working on the left and it falls to the floor….drop something when working on the right and it gets lost in the dark nether regions. (I lost the original banjo this way). Also, using dental floss to help keep the washer in place while trying to thread the bolt by feel only makes the job easier. (just carefully remove the floss as soon as the bolt starts to thread to ensure you get it all)
The oil pressure sender (blue arrow) was leaking from the electrical connector, so this was replaced as well.
With the access I had, this was not a difficult project. I can image how hard it would be with everything in place. Also, I think the XJ sedans have more access at the firewall than the XJ-S.
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