This is my first car ever, and I don't know much about cars. This seemed like a great place to ask for advice.

My car is wasting about a quart of oil every 150 miles now. The entire back of the car, like the window, is full of little drops of oil. It also seems like it is burning it because I see a bit of smoke. What can be the problem? I was told that I might have to rebuild the whole thing. How much does this usually end up costing? It's a great car, and I want to save it.

 

you need to find out where the leak is. One of the place would be the engine rear seal.

 

welcome to YT

well, by smoking a bit, can you see it directly coming out of the exhaust tip, or is it like smoke that's just following behind you?

If it's bad enough to get sucked into the turbulance behind the vehicle and coat the rear of it, I can garantee it's getting on the exhaust, and if it is, it'll make some smoke follow you around


really need to start by pin-pointing where the leak is originating from; could be a rear or front main seal, hell it may be as easy as a valve cover gasket!

 

What is your "car", year and model will help, along with what engine you have.

Oh yea, welcome. haha.

 

well the title IS "93 4Runner", and I'm only assuming a 3.0 since they're a bit more common in the Runners than the 22re's

 

It is a 3.0

The smoke is clearly visible when stepping on the accelerator when it is parked. Tomorrow I'll make sure to check if there is a cloud behind me.

There is a bit of a leak by the transmission, but it is hard to pinpoint where exactly it is coming from. There aren't any obvious leaks coming directly from the engine when looking under it. I haven't had time to take a good look at it because of school finals.

 

If you have to rebuild that whole damn 3.0 v6 then you might as well go ahead and get another vehicle. Or go balls to the wall and put a different engine in there... v8 !!!! but that would cost a lot too...
To get send off the engine to get rebuilt your lookin at $2000+

my 4runner was my first vehicle and i took it to the dealership (before i knew any better)
and they put in a whole new motor for $6000, i kid you not. so whatever you do, pleassee dont go that route!!!

 

Yeah I am barely learning about cars, so I'm trying to make sure I don't go and do something stupid. I talked to one guy that told me it would be around $2,800, but I want to see if it is even worth it. I've heard about the 3.4 swap, but I don't know enough to think about going in that direction.

 

6K?!!? I had the 3.0 replaced in my old '91, after 460K miles, at a Toyota stealership in So Cal, and it cost me a hair over 8K!!!! You got a deal!!!!