I just picked up a 99 4runner and today noticed an oil spot on the driveway. Its in the front on the driver side. Im gonna have it fixed but dont want to be ripped off. Can you guys give me a clue before I take it in? Thanks for taking the time.
Feels like regular motor oil. bear with me on posting a picture[IMG] Uploaded with ImageShack.us[/IMG]

 

 

Could be from many places. Do a good job of degreasing the engine and chassis and see where it's coming from.

The differential vent tube is on that side and can puke out oil if the diff was overfilled. Also, valve cover gaskets could be leaking. Or, it could be power steering fluid.

 

Thanks Rworgon. Ill degrease and check again. doesnt seem to be coming from up higher but ill know more after its clean

 

Check driver side wheel well on the engine side....it's where the diff vent terminates.

Higher up very well could be the valve cover gaskets. The gaskets harden up over time and the bolts become very loose....bad combination.

Oil has a way of travelling. Good luck,

 

I dont believe it is from higher up. up above looks dry.

 

After a little more poking around I believe it's power steering fluid coming out. Is the stop leak stuff a bad idea if I just want to by some time or am I better off just keeping it full until i repair it? You have been very helpful. Thanks again

 

Keep it full until you replace it; I'd save my $$$ for a Toyo reman rack. A few members have gone the route of repairing the seals; I don't know how they have made out but I would not do it myself.

When you replace the rack, replace the rubber rack bushings with some poly ones.

 

I will look into that. Thanks a lot
Jesse

 

Remind me to never drive where salt is strewn about.

 

Ha ha. Yeah but snow is fun. I cleaned it off and checked it after driving again. Looks like its coming from the line or upper connection in the picture. Is it pretty much like changing a brake line? Hopefully this is an easy fix.[IMG] Uploaded with ImageShack.us[/IMG]

 

, I see some serious rust in those pics. While you are under there ,you may want to do some rust removal and undercoating/painting. The power steering line leak may just be a preview of more leaks to come.

 

Yeah it is rusty. Every vehicle in the area is. Our roads are salt covered from nov-april. That leads me to another question. what is the best method of rust removal and protection without taking the vehicle apart. I might start a thread on that if I cant find it in a search.

 

We have snow here every winter, hill streets in town, mountains, and no salt on the roads. Crushed rock is used and then recovered on the spring. I can't help you on the rust questions as my Tracoma is 17 years old with no rust. There are some good rust removal and restore threads around here.

It almost seems that the salt is used to keep people buying cars on a more frequent basis than necessary....but, that's a whole other topic.

 

No Salt? that sounds nice

 

Ummm, considering there was a period of time where domestic manufacturing made sure that a vehicle would die around 60K miles, its no wonder salt was used on roads. It didn't matter what kind of rust it caused, the vehicles wouldn't run any longer anyway.