Loss of Oil Options

[Wadgti]

Hi folks,

I know that this has probaly been asked a thousand ties, and I had a look at ome other threads.

But my 97 7AFE ST is loosing alot of oil. It was filled 4/5 of the capacity 2 weeks ago and today it had very little oil let. I was using 10-40 semi castrol gtx as an stop gap in the meantime. there looks to be a small leak coming from the rocker cover gasket running down the front of the head next to the belts. ( i would think it would loose as much oil as it has via the rocker cover gasket)

I have seen the odd puff of blue smoke when foot is goes down, however I am not convinced that it is burning oil. On startup for 5 minutes, there is no blue smoke just petrol fumes.

The car has has a strong smell of petrol in the cabin now and again. It hasnt been serviced in about a year and has been left on a driveway for around 6months. It is going to be serviced at the end of this month to see it helps.

Can anyone suggest other areas to look at.

Many thanks

[celica74]

two easy ways to figure it out.

1: wash the oil off the motor really good with some degreaser, drive it 5 miles and then check to see where its coming from.

2: get some oil dye, put it in, drive 5 miles, try to spot where its coming from.

its weird seeing the intake and alternator with oil on them. but like stated before, wont hurt to replace the oil pan gasket, very easy and all you need is basic tools, scrapper, and some fipg(think this is toyotas "rtv").

just thought of this, check your power steering fluid. might be why the manifold is wet.

This post has been edited by celica74: Aug 24, 2012 - 11:49 AM