93 4Runner 3.0 Valley full of oil...Looking for ideas on where to look for this leak, or try to understand where it may be coming from.


about 4-5" of oil in here.

 

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...l-leak-212661/

 

Thanks I’ll have to check it out when I pull the heads. Like he said though no other indication of a head gasket leak.

 

Yea it was the first one I pulled up, there are some more threads that one just seemed
like it was relevant are you rebuilding anyway or??

 

Man it’s a long story..condensed version…oil leak…it seemed like the oil leak moved around…at first I thought rear main…then I thought front crank seal…so I started there…replaced front crank seal and timing belt…then it seemed to get worse…I knew the seal job was good but it lost a lot of oil…so I tore it back down to look at the front crank seal…when I did, I saw it was good and I was moving the drop light and a reflection caught my eye…I noticed under the intake runners what looked like a black pool of oil but couldn’t really get to it but knew I had to go find out…so yeah a rebuild or something. I’m an old Chevy guy but got a pretty good deal on this little 4Runner. Put about 10k miles on it before it started having this problem…started learning about the 3.0 and the head gasket problems…I’m the 2nd owner and the lady that bought it new passed away but kept meticulous records. Saw where she took it to the dealership and had the head gaskets replaced under warranty. That was another strange thing about it because the coolant was not oily and the oil was not milky and it ran fine…that’s awesome you found that thread because I have not found much on this problem on the internet or forums…maybe the way I’m searching…the other thing is she took great care of this vehicle and it’s in great shape…too nice to leave in a pile of junk with a bad motor. That and this little 4Runner grew on me and I began to really like it. I was hoping it was not a cracked block or something like that because it did get hot before I parked it. So yeah rebuilding it…pull heads off…bottom end sounds good…new gaskets, new heads, put it back together is the plan…Thanks for posting that thread.

New inside and out.

 

No problem, I personally go to the search tab and then go to advanced, I search titles only first and then full posts. That has always worked for me but other members seem to have good luck using google through the forum. The biggest problem is the title, the thread I found was “ mystery oil leak” so searching for the title didn’t help. If the OP would have labeled valley full of oil it would be easier

Runner does look clean and you should post some more pics inside and out!!! We love pics here

Good luck and have a super Christmas!!!!

 

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