Franky Ohlinger

So.... despite everyone telling me dont do it, I bought a $1000 1991 4x4 3vz 4runner.... with a severe oil leak. I gladly bought it and towed it to my buddys place.

This leak is multiple drips a second off of the lower timing cover. So we pulled the oil pump and redid the main seal, the o ring and put it back together with sealant in all the right places. Put the timing shiz back on and found that it still leaked (thank god we weren't confident enough to put the front diff back in).

So we took the timing covers off, wiped it down and started it up (with out in the fan). We looked around and are thoroughly convinced that the main seal is leaking. Oil doesnt seem to be coming down from anywhere up top and I could see oil collecting on the lip right below the crank. I do see oil midway up the block and but not nearly enough to contribute to the quantity collecting at the bottom. I think it is getting slung up from the bottom pulley.

The car has 225k miles. We used a national 224020 seal if that makes any difference and basically no difference when we put the new main seal on.

We can only figure the main got screwed up on installation (unlikely imo, seal was in pump housing when the pump housing was installed), or the crank is worn.... which means 22RE swap.

What other things can we check before dropping the oil pan again?