Howdy. I am currently having a huge problem finding an oil leak on my 2nd gen Runner. The oil is leaking down onto my transmission from above and dripping down right in between the driver and passenger sides. I believed that it was the valve cover gaskets and a simple fix. After taking off the intake manifold, there was no fresh oil on or below the valve cover. The vehicle has been leaking for some time now, but it just got real bad after the transmission fluid got into the radiator and made some good ol' coolant soup. I put in a new radiator and hoses and replaced all 3 belts when I was in there as well. The engine was overfilled by 5 quarts recently due to my stupidity and lack of situational awareness. The vehicle runs perfect. Good idle, no white smoke, not overheating, and when I drained the oil, there was no milk in the oil at all. I really hope someone who has had or knows someone that has had a similar oil leak can help me diagnose the problem before I go way over my head and start taking apart the whole engine.

 

What's keeping you from crawling under it to see what's leaking? You're there we're not. First thought would be oil cooler if you have one. Filter tight?

 

A trick I use is to go to the self serve car wash and use the “tire cleaner” spray that goes through the nozzle.

Coat the area covered in grease/oil and apply a few layers of that tire cleaner on it. Wait a few minutes for it to work, rinse it off and repeat if necessary.

The tire cleaner is a really good degreaser.

Then you can drive it home and watch where it leaks from

EDIT: or you can just buy a UV light and dye to put in the oil. that’s what shops do.

 

Nothing. The problem is that I cant tell exactly where the leak is coming from. I clean off all of the oil and took her on a slow drive and got out to check for oil every once and a while. I just cannot pinpoint the location. I tried to use an inspection mirror but it's coming from up pretty high. All I know is that its right under the valve cover and leaking onto the transmission.

 

I've cleaned it off multiple times and drove slowly around my neighbor hood and checked for where the oil is coming from. The leak is just so high up that I can see or put my hand up in there or even get an inspection mirror in there to see where exactly the leak is coming from.

 

If I were to guess, it’s probably the half moons on the back of the valve cover that are leaking. When you do those you gotta do the valve cover at the same time.

With oil leaks you generally want to work your way from top to bottom if you can’t figure out where it’s coming from.