Just bought this poor 22RTE 4Runner. It was leaking oil really bad, and burning a bit. I figure one issue at a time, stop the 4,000 oil leaks. No water in the oil. From here on out when "oil" is mentioned it is mentioned as oil with dye.

I put UV die in and started it up. It appears to be leaking from the oil pan (some bolts loose). Also, on the front of the motor, towards the driver's side, about 3/4's of an inch up, there is a bolt. It is somewhat loose and leaking oil.
Fine.

The tensioner coming back to the passenger side has oil under it. No idea where that's from.

Coming up to the water pump there was oil pooled on top of it, and I'm assuming it was leaking from the top there. Didn't look like it was seeping from the head thank god.

Coming up more, back to the passenger side, there is a bracket that had oil on it. Couldn't figure out why, it's sort of over the front (number 1) cylinder. I revved it to see if we got more visible leaks, and something from the top sprayed. Oil down on #1 cylinder spark boot, oil on the hood, oil on the car next to me, no idea. There was a thick line of oil where the valve cover seals, is there really that much pressure in there to cause oil to spray out? how would it hit the hood from there?

Poor leaky lil guy...

 

Leaks onto the belts/pulleys and gets thrown up on the hood. Just pull it apart and start replacing seals and stripped hardware.

 

The [failed]valve cover gasket is probably causing a lot of the leaks. Easy fix.

 

best bet would be to tear it down enough to replace all the rubber seals. than you wont have to worry about it and be all done at one time. dont forget the rear main seal as well. i hate leaks and i finally fixed all the leaks on all my cars/trucks
the 4 cylinder isnt too hard to replace almost all the seals. i did almost all the ones on my 22r when i 1st got it. but i got lucky and didnt need to tear down too far to get all my leaks

 

Thanks for the replies. So what all gaskets do you recommend being replaced?

Oil first lit up on this bolt.


These two photos are above the pump. It pools. At first I thought it was the head leaking.



Not only was this bolt loose, it was leaking oil. What bolt is that? Just tighten to fix it up?


I thought maybe some oil was shooting out of the dipstick. That yellow spot is where some sort of oil sprayed that line. Oil is all over here.

 

start at the top. do the valve cover gasket. make sure you reseal the half moons. crank seal, reseal the oil pan. its been a while so i might be missing a few easy ones. but start with valve cover, pressure wash all the oil and recheck.

 

I would suggest looking at the front seal at the crank. When it leaks it will sling oil like crazy and leaks quite a bit.

 

many people overlook the distributor o-ring,yes ,it leaks a lot too and make huge mess in the front and 1st spark plug area.

 

I would also replace the PVC and grommet. Sounds like a lot of pressure is building up.

 

Well it would appear the oil pan is RTV'ed on. How do I get the thing off... Also I see where RTV oozed out of the side of the oil pump. Wonder if that mean it doesn't even have a gasket on it.

Somebody was an idiot.

 

In a sense you are lucky in that you can spend some time getting to know your truck & it's engine. You have one of the easiest trucks to work on.. it was built back in the day when a person could do their own repairs.

Take your time & do it right and you'll have something that'll last several years, possibly decades. It won't be too expensive either. Parts aren't that expensive and if you spend some time here on Yotatech you'll find where the deals are and how to do stuff. All of us are eager to provide advice & help. I bet you walk away with a leak-free engine and several more friends.

Don't forget to post a lot of photos and watch out for those earthquakes!

 

I tried to break the crank bolt using the starter technique. Nothing. Any other ideas?

 

Put it in 4th gear, block tires, breaker bar and socket, add 3 foot or longer bar on top of breaker bar, and lean into it. It will let out a loud snap, and let loose. I use my 4 foot jack handle and a Snap On Breaker bar, along with 6 foot, 240 lbs of all muscle...

 

It's an automatic

 

see my thread (THREAD B in my sig)....mine is an auto as well.

 

start at the top of page 2

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...88/index2.html

 

if you have a harbor freight close by, buy the largest 1/2" breaker bar, its about 3ft. It has a harded allen head bolt as the pin. It is strong. I recently did the same thing in my auto. I pulled the starter, have a very large pry bar, a big screw driver may work. and get in good on the teeth. Grind the side of it if you need to. Or pull the trans back enough to put a bolt back in the motor and use a large pry bar with it. Last time I pulled a pesky crank bolt I used a pickle fork in the teeth. Worked great. easy to hold and fit the teeth very well.

Plus if you pull the trans back you can get that rear main out of the way.

Oh btw hit the bolt with a hammer a few times. Apply penetrant, hit it again. repeat.

 

Well I broke my Craftsman socket on it. Half inch drive. Then for fun put an impact socket on it and of course it rounded off the bolt. Now what? I'd use my impact but the compressor is broken and I don't even think it could get it. 4ft bar 160lb force 640ft/lbs... I think the impact is like 700. Well at least the crank didn't move I guess.

 

Try and use a Snap-On 6 point many times they work on rounded bolts. And a Little Little Heat on the bolt.

 

I'm gonna assume that the 1/2'' socket you used is a 6 point impact. if not, use that. if you still end up rounding the bolt head then grrrrr.

another trick I've see is to provide some relief from the bolt by cutting away some of it's collar (the wide round piece around the bolt head)....i've seen pics of this done, can't tell ya how to find those pics, but the collar, itself provides a lot of holding power (either i remember these details or i'm making stuff up in my head at 5am)....but i swear i remember an explanation of the collar itself kinda bending in when it's tightened and by cutting some of it away, you relieve alot of that. the bolt is ruined anyway and you need a new one. i got mine from LC Engineering, but I added that in on an order I had. their shipping can be prohibitive, as with any mail-order and savings may be negated by that. check a price with the dealer too.