94 blkrunner

Hello, I have a oil leak on my 94 4runner it has 215,000 so it could be anything so here are the details: At first I thought that it was the valve covers leaking so I replaced both sides,still leaked, next I spent hours trying to locate the leak from the underside and the oil seams to be coming from the rear of the engine at the heads on both sides, it seems to leak more on the driver side. coming down the heads on the block and drips off the bell housing. I thought maybe the head gaskets but the oil looks good (clean) and the coolant sill green and the engine runs good. Is it possible that the oil is leaking at the head gasket? or cracked heads? any input would be a godsend.
Thanks

ChickenLover

It could be the head gasket. It could also be your rear cam seals.

itsmeagain5789

just lay down some tarp, thats what my mom made me to until she made me fix it. myne still leaks right around the tranny. probl the rear main seal. i donno if u want to try any of those additives, i wouldn't personally, but i heard it works for some people.

94 blkrunner

have you ever dealt with the rear cam seals?

Tigerstripe40

Why not run a "high mileage" motor oil through it on the next oil change?
Many have 'seal sweller' additives that help seals out.

I have a similar oil leak and I don't think it's the valve covers. It actually looks like it's the rear most cam bearing. This gets sealed with FIPG. Your FIPG could be just tired and old.

jht3

rear cam seals

i've changed those seals, the valve cover gaskets, and the crank seal TWICE on my 115k engine

94 blkrunner

were yours leaking bad? did you have to readjust the valves when you were done?

spudrunner

oil cooler O ring, that's where mine was leaking.

94 blkrunner

thank you all for the input. I just cant seem to pin point the leak or leaks. I am so feed up with this engine If it didn't run so good I would have given up a long time ago.

knucklehead38401

What he said, it may look like it's comming from the rear main seal, but most times its the oil cooler O ring. You can get the parts from the dealership for about $8 fix it before you blow up your motor. I'll even give you the part numbers. The hardest part is getting to it to pull it off. I take them off and clean the cooler real good and the water lines off from the front of the block.

90301-61003 O ring

90210-22001 Washer seal

15785-35010 Oil gasket, this part goes inside the cooler right where the banjo bolt goes through and seals the banjo bolt to the cooler. It's a small o ring about the size of a quarter.

slosurfer

I am going to tackle mine this weekend. I think the total for everything was $12.40 at the local dealer. I could probably have got them cheaper from Northridge Toyota or TRDparts here on the boards but I needed them quick.

94 blkrunner

That sounds like a cheap fix (thanks) I will tackle that after xmas along with the valve covers again(this time I am going to put new ones on along with gaskets0. I hope it is not rear main! When I really get in there and look close I can see oil coming from the top of drivers side head(valve covers) also the area where the head and the block comes together it looks oiley makeing me think valve covers and head gasket I did a compresion check and the rear piston 160psi middle 145psi front 160 psi the numbers look good! Has any one ever heard of the head gasket just leaking oil ?

pruney81

How would the O ring on the oil cooler cause one to blow up their engine? If it's leaking does the oil cooler not perform it's function, i.e. cooling the oil? Or were you just saying that?

knucklehead38401

Because when all the oil leaks out on a long trip and your not watching the oil pressure guage, it will throw a rod out the side of the block. I've seen this about half a dozen times and I've changed out alot of these engines. The oil cooler can't perform when there is no oil in the engine. Also this is just like the o-ring on a oil filter and it gets changed out about every 3k and when the cooler o-ring goes for 150k without getting changed, there might be a problem with oil leaking.

Bumpin' Yota

hmmm ive NEVER heard of ALL the oil leaking out on a long trip, sounds to me like 100% customer neglect! My 3.slow leaked like a SIEVE and I had to add about 2 quarts every 3000 miles. I cant see a full 6 quarts being lost unless they had a leak like mine (which is HUGE imo) and let it do its thing for the better part of 8000+ miles. Yall made those poeple PAY for the new engine and labor right?


ps - Im taking your advice and ima change that o ring while I have the heads off!

knucklehead38401

Well, out of the ones I've done, because of this problem all of the people were women. Women don't check their oil very often.

94 blkrunner

well I located the leak (i think) REAR CAM PLUGS so I took the air intake off and valve covers. my question is cam I take the rear bearing caps off with out taking loosing the entire cam???

94 blkrunner

just wanted to say thanks for your help guys. I finally stopped the leaking fixed it by replacing cam plugs, valve covers gaskets,oil pan,oil cooler gaskets,front cam seals, front main and last but not least timing belt (since I was in there).
thanks again

nickr9287

check to see if it is the rear main seal mine was leaking from there and i did not get it fixed in time and now iv got big problems

Bumpin' Yota

hell the women I know dont even know that there is oil in the damn engine much less that it should actually be changed!!

i will not go into a sexist rant...
i will not go into a sexist rant...