trousertrout

What are the most common areas for oil leaks on 22R's? I have one that is leaking oil from the back of the engine onto the top of the bell housing, and I've replaced my valvecover/grommets and it's still leaking. Any ideas?

navyredneck

Sounds like the half moon seal that's right below the valve cover gasket. Replace the front and rear half moon and the valve cover gasket, the 4 grommets, and maybe the pcv valve at once. You also need to use some rtv on the half moon gasket. This is a relatively simple job that I'm gonna help my neighbor do in a few days. See my buildup thread for some pictures.

If you have oil leaking from inside the bellhousing area or below, just above the oil pan I might guess that it's your rear main seal which requires you to pull the engine or tranny.

The only other places my old engine had oil leaks were around the oil pan itself.

***(just reread your post) Did you replace the half moon seals?***

trousertrout

just replaced the half moon seals, but I noticed that the half moons stick up about a 1/4" above the cylinder head where the valve cover is. Could that gap be causing the leak? The oil is leaking out onto the TOP of the bellhousing, the bottom of it is clean and dry. I can't think of any other places that would have oil leaking onto that area. Also, should I use the blue rtv, or the red(high temp) rtv. how much does it matter?

deserttoy84

they get pressed down when you tighten your valve cover. just use regular silicone on them. valve cover doesnt go on very tight either so dont overtighten it. there is a plate on the back of the head thast could be leaking. check to make sure its not

trousertrout

yeah if you mean the cylinder head plate that coolant passes through, I pulled that off and couldn't find anywhere that oil could be leaking out of. I RTV'd it with the high temp and put it back on, but the leak remains. IF we're talking about the same plate.

deserttoy84

then it has to be the mooon shaped thing for the valve cover or the valve cover gasket not tighten properly.the actualy gasket its self usually never leaks it always those thigns at the end. silicone em up good.

slabcrawler

I don't think the half moons should be sticking up that much. Your positive the rubber gasket stayed in the groove on the valve cover right? If so then check the half moons again. I thought one of the half moons was shorter than the other?? Maybe you got 2 fronts??

navyredneck

I checked mine and they looked both the same when I installed them. And yes, they stuck up a little bit.

What did you torque the grommets to? It's something really low... I can find it in the FSM if you need.

toyota_mdt_tech

Headgasket and the 1/2 moon. Front of the engine would be front crank seal and oil pump o-ring.

trousertrout

ok, I'm obviously new to engines, but I didn't know that the head gasket could leak oil down onto the bellhousing. would that explain oil being black all the time and smoke periodically coming out of the exhaust???!!!