91muddog

My engine has aquired the name of leaky for obvious reasons. I have sealed the driver side valve cover and am doing the other side fairly soon. After this it started leaking from the oil filter pretty bad. New oil filter and oil change fixed that. Now she has started leaking from the rear of the engine right before the tranny... leaky rear seal or pan?

has anyone used that liquid gasket maker stuff?
my cousin swears by it for all of our tow trucks and shop trucks.
let the pan drop a little, suirt some between the block and pan and bolt if back up & let er dry.

i was just wondering ytopinion on all this?

where will she leak next?
the world may never know...

TNRabbit

You almost have to take the pan off because you don't know if it's the pan or baffle that's leaking. Good luck getting them off because they use the FIPG (Form In Place Gasket) from Toyota and it is the TOUGHEST gasket material I've ever seen. You have to drive a razor blade in betwen to cut it loose. If it's installed correctly, it will NEVER leak..

91muddog

yeah, thats like the stuff im talking about.

the 3.0 has been replaced, im pretty sure they replaced the pan gasket prior in installation, however they did a VERY bad job sealing up the engine.

jerbear

Hi
I am going through the same thing and I finally found the leak. Clean off the underside of the truck as best you can. Park truck and start. Get under the truck on the driversa side and look up to the oil cooler. I found that mine had a slight split where the pieces were formed togethewr. Not the seals but the can itself had sprung a leak. Let us know what you find
Good Luck

91muddog

would that be the oil cooler?
seemed practacal but i couldnt be sure.

ive been holding that thing suspect also

TNRabbit

That's it.

Guardian_Saint

All these time I complain that my rear seal is leaking so after I pull the engine out and find out that my rear seal is clean as new so it was the oil pan that is next to the trans. is the leaking part, the rear seal is a pretty tough seal it seem that it will never cause a breakage and cause it to leak. So I believe it should be the valve cover gasket or the oil pan gasket. Mine was leaking from the back of the oil pan and the oil will drip through the trans. pan, litterilly causing a mess under it.

Four Runner

I'm bumping this thread, because:

Somebody please verify for me that this is the same thing on mine, a '95, but it's mounted up behind the intake manifold, above the bellhousing, and the crossover exhaust pipe..

justinking060310

Shane,

The picture on the left is the water jacket block thing - it has nothing to do with oil -- the lil black hose on the top of the picture is a water bypass hose.

the picture on the right is almost the same - in the top of the picture is the same water bypass hose and the hard line that is in the middle/bottom appears to be your fuel feed line.

This is where your oil cooler is::


Disregarding the rest of the grossness in this picture, but this shows the water jacket that you pictured pretty well - i have pictured the same bypass hose as you took a picture of in the top center of this picture behind the TVV valve(blue thing with 2 vacuum ports.)



Hope that helps..
Kat

chimmike

best way to get an oil pan off : Get a STIFF metal scraper. Hammer it in, and hammer it around the oil pan to break the seal.

AS for the leaking, as said, check your oil cooler. It's the cylindrical thing in the picture above on the driver's side of the block.

justinking060310

I also wish you the b est of luck trying to get the pan/baffle off the truck with the motor in the truck.

I would bet a paycheck that if it is/was sealed correctly with "The Right Stuff" or FIPG from Toyota, you will not be able to get it off with the motor in the truck.

I used "The Right Stuff" when building my shortblock and after I figured out that I needed my pan back off it was a beeeotch to get the pan off again. - As stated by chimmike, I used a stiff, sharp drywall putty knife(a 4" one) and had to use my 3lb sledge to hit it around the oil pan and then again for the baffle. That stuff is stuck. and you wont be able to get all the way around the pan while it is in the truck.

CyMoN

I have a leak coming from this area,
I replaced the valve cover 2 times second time I i made sure to clean it real well and used a good sealant at the points from the FSM could it be my front main seal and would it leak from the out side of the timing cover.

justinking060310

CyMON - if you replaced your valve cover gasket(you should be using a rubber preformed one) and you are still leaking, then your leak is from the front cam seal - in my picture it is orange inside your circle.

Now, be very careful when you attack this because you have to "detorque" your camshaft bearing caps. That seal is fairly cheap;however, be very careful because you can damage your camshaft if you just unbolt that 1 cam bearing cap where the seal is.

follow the fsm and IIRC you will need some FIPG or The Rigght Stuff by permatex(my recommendation and you can get it at the parts store) to put the cam bearing cap back on.

Heres a link to the FSM if you need it::
http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...fsm/index.html


Kat

Blurr

actually, if you can remove the front cam seals with the cam in place (never done this but i bet it could be done), you don't have to detorque/remove the cams to put in the new seal. just lube up the inner ring and push/drive it in place.

according to the FSM, the REAR cam seals are put in place before the bearing cap. the FRONT cam seals are put in place after the installation of the bearing cap. again, this is the FSM procedure, awesome if it has worked for you otherwise. just trying to save Cymon some time and grief

CyMoN

I used the correct valve cover seal and used the fipg in the corners like stated in the FSM and after all of that I got another leak not from the valve seals. I guess I will have to replace the front cam seals not for a little while but in the near future I hate oil leaks.

justinking060310

Blurr- I stand corrected - I guess I am not perfect afterall, jk

However, it would not be very fun removing those seals .

I think it depends on how you go about it - If you are going to pull the timing belt and leave the upper intake in place, you could probably get at them easier than removing the intake to get at the valve covers, etc.

Four Runner

Thanks everyone for answering. I was worried that the rear camshaft seals were going out. Took a look at things today, went and got an expert answer to confirm things, it's just a cruddy valve cover seal, they all do it, I was really tired and frustrated when I posted the inquiry, so once I got some sleep and checked better, rather than with a flashlight and vanity mirror, in the dark, the problem became visable.

As for the pan, stupid shop that did the work before I bought it decided to use cork, instead of FIPG, so disassembly won't be an issue, just gotta clean it all good, then run a good bead of the FIPG, then also "swab around the outside extensively" so it comes out just like factory, and won't likely leak again.

Big-time props to my local go-to guys for letting me look at things in the yard to completely understand.

CyMoN

just make sure not to apply too much around where your dip stick gos in the oil pan

CoedNaked

I just had a few leaks fixed on my 3.0 as I figure I can get at least another 30,000 miles on my engine before rebuild and I was kinda getting sick of going through a bit more oil than I thought, plus I hate the thought of knowing my engine is leaking oil (burning a little is fine though). I was losing about a quart and a half between changes (every 3500-4000 miles). So the tech said since there was definate evidence the valve covers were leaking on both sides (oil stains and build up right above the exhaust manifolds, plus oil around the oil pan and main seal area on the bottom) he would start with the valve cover gaskets, and if that doesn't fix the problem, we would look further. Well after doing the valve covers, there was still more oil, so he did the 3 seals in the oil cooler, and the rear main seal, and voila, problem solved. No more leaks (checked today anyways).

You might want to consider since you'll have your valve covers off, doing the camshaft seals, and checking your valve clearances, as well as potentially doing the timing belt, water pump, thermostat, etc. (since you'll need to take the plenum off). Also check your PCV as well.