Engine Oil leak, with pictures., Can someone diagnose this for me? Options

[samir0189]

Hey everyone,

My celi's always had a leak for as long as i can remember, but just one or two drops, nothing major.

now...



I have some pics of underneath the car, the leak is more passenger side on the ground.

ALOT of oil is settled on this thing



And the whole backside of the engine block appears shiny. (doesn't look shiny in pics though..)



And this is the oil pan, it appears to be really oily, but idk if thats cause the oil settled there or if it originated fromthere.




Any ideas? I can take more pics if need be.

THANKS everyone!

[Smaay]

i had the same problem, i ended up pulling the engine and tearing it down, but from what i could find, my leak appeared from the original oil pan FIPG was just worn out. try re-sealing the pan. both my rear and front seals looked ok

[samir0189]

i had the same problem, i ended up pulling the engine and tearing it down, but from what i could find, my leak appeared from the original oil pan FIPG was just worn out. try re-sealing the pan. both my rear and front seals looked ok

The only thing i dread about taking down the pan and resealing is removing the crossmember with the motor mounts.

I had thought that the pan had to be it, but now upon further inspection, the only thing that doesn't make alot of sense is how so much oil would have sprayed upwards onto all the other things there that are drenched with oil.

This post has been edited by samir0189: Jan 28, 2009 - 2:40 PM

[hatchy_gt-s]

Your pan could be leaking, but its not the only spot because you have oil running down the engine you have to find the highest dry point.
First take brake clean, spay everything off(make sure you get rid of as much oil as you can), let the car run for a while(dont drive moving parts will cause splatter)10-15min,turn it off go back under and check where the oil is coming from.
honestly it just looks like your valve cover which is an easy fix.

is it more oily on the left or the right or is it about equal?

what kind of oil pan gasket do you have cork or rtv?

[samir0189]

i had cleaned it once to try that but then i had to go somewhere so it became a mess again, lol. I'll have to set aside some time and try again.

I dunno what kind of gasket it is on the pan, whatever was there originally, from what I've read is the form in place gasket.

The passenger side appears to be the oiliest on the components that are low, like the thing with the two hoses coming out of it, theres a ton of oil on that, and just right in that spot of the oil pan that i took that picture of.

On top, the whole backside of the engine is covered equally with shinyness. the front side is clean though.

[nik]

valve cover gasket
and oil pan gasket

replace both

[hatchy_gt-s]

ok so ya, well because the engine sits at a slant the oil from the valve cover is going to leak to the back side, so i would remove the valve cover (requires a 30mm socket) and check the gasket/replace. those 2 hoses are the power steering lines(the actual pump is on the lower backside of the engine)

So i would just replace the valve cover and the pan gasket if its still there PM me and i will help

u dont have to remove the cross member just use a 1/4in wrench with extension with a swivel on a shallow socket

This post has been edited by hatchy_gt-s: Jan 28, 2009 - 3:02 PM

[samir0189]

ok so ya, well because the engine sits at a slant the oil from the valve cover is going to leak to the back side, so i would remove the valve cover (requires a 30mm socket) and check the gasket/replace. those 2 hoses are the power steering lines(the actual pump is on the lower backside of the engine)

So i would just replace the valve cover and the pan gasket if its still there PM me and i will help

u dont have to remove the cross member just use a 1/4in wrench with extension with a swivel on a shallow socket

AWESOME.

yup im gonna look up all the parts and goodies ill need now..

[lagos]

could be the power steering pump.

[samir0189]

could be the power steering pump.

the thing with the hoses covered with oil? But that would mean power steering fluid,right?

cause im sure its the motor oil cause the color of the leak reflects the color of the motor oil always. When the oil is black so is the leak, and now i have fairly new oil and its amber.

always a possibility its the p/s leaking too and its mixing, but then again no p/s fluid is missing from the reservoir.

[Galcobar]

I had a leak covering the same areas -- check your oil pump seal, and rear main. I thought for years it was PS fluid, but turned out not so much.

[blu94gt]

could be the power steering pump.

the thing with the hoses covered with oil? But that would mean power steering fluid,right?

cause im sure its the motor oil cause the color of the leak reflects the color of the motor oil always. When the oil is black so is the leak, and now i have fairly new oil and its amber.

always a possibility its the p/s leaking too and its mixing, but then again no p/s fluid is missing from the reservoir.

Top off both the oil and power steering and check them in a week to see which is low.

[samir0189]

Well I've decided i'm gonna start off with the valve cover gasket and reseal the oil pan this weekend.

I am due for a t-belt in about 3k miles, and if the leak persists after i change those two ill see if it may be the oil pump seal, or crank seal, and so on.

Top off both the oil and power steering and check them in a week to see which is low.

The p/s has no room really to add any fluid, and the thing is, even though the oil leak appears heavy, it doesn't show on the dipstick noticeably.

[Tigawoods]

oil pan isnt as hard as it seems. it takes time to take everything off, and you dont need to take out the cross member. just loosen the back and drop the front and you will have enough room to work. from a person who just did this 3 weeks ago good luck !

[samir0189]

oil pan isnt as hard as it seems. it takes time to take everything off, and you dont need to take out the cross member. just loosen the back and drop the front and you will have enough room to work. from a person who just did this 3 weeks ago good luck !

awesome! The rear mount is really a pain so im happy to hear it can be done without disassembling that! Thanks Tiga!!!!

[silver6gc]

If youre timing belt is due in 3k then wait to do anything until you do the t-belt. I will bet you youre going to find youre front engine seals leaking, including the oil pump. To reseal the oil pump properly will require that you take the oil pan off, thats why i say dont do it until you do the t-belt, it would suck to have to do it twice. However, all that being said, I noticed that you have a feeze plug that appears to be leaking on the back of your engine, check that also because if youre block is corroded where it seals to the freeze plug (it's most likely just the freeze plug that's corroded), you MAY just want to focus on possibly getting another engine. You and anybody else can PM me if you/they ever need help/instructions on something or part numbers, that includes any other Toyota models that you may also drive.

[samir0189]

If youre timing belt is due in 3k then wait to do anything until you do the t-belt. I will bet you youre going to find youre front engine seals leaking, including the oil pump. To reseal the oil pump properly will require that you take the oil pan off, thats why i say dont do it until you do the t-belt, it would suck to have to do it twice. However, all that being said, I noticed that you have a feeze plug that appears to be leaking on the back of your engine, check that also because if youre block is corroded where it seals to the freeze plug (it's most likely just the freeze plug that's corroded), you MAY just want to focus on possibly getting another engine. You and anybody else can PM me if you/they ever need help/instructions on something or part numbers, that includes any other Toyota models that you may also drive.

well i've got the t-belt and the fipg and the valve gasket, im gonna do the valve cover tomorrow morning, and perhaps the oil pan. IF my leaks persist i will buy the seals for all areas around the t-belt (stealership wanted another 70 bucks..) and i wouldn't mind dropping the oil pan again. right now i'm pretty confident the largest oil leaks are from the valve cover and the pan. .

I didn't notice (or know of for that matter) freeze plugs, and I saw the one you are talking about in one of my photos. fortunately, no coolant is on the ground YET, but as you pointed this out to me, it may be a matter of time. I really don't have the money to replace the engine altogether (and if i did, i wouldn't want a 5s in there again! ) but i read up on these things, and is it possible that I can seal it with something temporarily, a putty, glue type thing, you know what i mean? or do you think i could change it altogether? there is a bit of room back there to be able to work on it.. ...

My motor runs flawlessly (minus these leaks obviously) for having 246k on it, i'd hate for something like a coolant leak to make me have to change the whole motor...

This post has been edited by samir0189: Jan 30, 2009 - 10:56 PM

[silver6gc]

samir0189 Posted Yesterday, 11:45 PM
QUOTE (silver6gc @ Jan 30, 2009 - 10:01 PM)
If youre timing belt is due in 3k then wait to do anything until you do the t-belt. I will bet you youre going to find youre front engine seals leaking, including the oil pump. To reseal the oil pump properly will require that you take the oil pan off, thats why i say dont do it until you do the t-belt, it would suck to have to do it twice. However, all that being said, I noticed that you have a feeze plug that appears to be leaking on the back of your engine, check that also because if youre block is corroded where it seals to the freeze plug (it's most likely just the freeze plug that's corroded), you MAY just want to focus on possibly getting another engine. You and anybody else can PM me if you/they ever need help/instructions on something or part numbers, that includes any other Toyota models that you may also drive.



well i've got the t-belt and the fipg and the valve gasket, im gonna do the valve cover tomorrow morning, and perhaps the oil pan. IF my leaks persist i will buy the seals for all areas around the t-belt (stealership wanted another 70 bucks..) and i wouldn't mind dropping the oil pan again. right now i'm pretty confident the largest oil leaks are from the valve cover and the pan. .

I didn't notice (or know of for that matter) freeze plugs, and I saw the one you are talking about in one of my photos. fortunately, no coolant is on the ground YET, but as you pointed this out to me, it may be a matter of time. I really don't have the money to replace the engine altogether (and if i did, i wouldn't want a 5s in there again! ) but i read up on these things, and is it possible that I can seal it with something temporarily, a putty, glue type thing, you know what i mean? or do you think i could change it altogether? there is a bit of room back there to be able to work on it.. ...

My motor runs flawlessly (minus these leaks obviously) for having 246k on it, i'd hate for something like a coolant leak to make me have to change the whole motor...

Yes, you should be able to seal the freeze plug with FIPG if it's VERY clean, I only say another engine as a very worst possible scenario, sorry if i alarmed you. However, with the freeze plug rusting from the inside out, I would try to get it replaced as soon as possible so it doesn't transfer "The Cancer" (rust) to the block. I can't tell for sure fom your pics, but it looks like you're biggest leak is going to be the oil pump. I say that because in the pics, your intake manifold doesn't look THAT wet. If your valve cover was leaking as bad as your leak appears to be, the intake manifold would be soaked. The oil pump would definitely be getting oil on your power steering pump and the back of the pan like it is in your pics. I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO GET TOYOTA PARTS FOR YOUR CAR, ESPECIALLY THE OIL SEALS YOU WILL NEED FOR THS JOB!!! Take my advice or not, but I am trained by Toyota to do this for a living and I'm pretty f@!#ing good at it .