Alright. I have a 1985 4runner 4by4. Stock FI motor.

My truck is leaking oil BAD(like puddles on ground and all over the front passenger corner of motor).

I thought it was either the gasket for the oil filter(I use a PH8 chevy v8 filter) or the oil pan gasket.

So i replaced BOTH the oil pan gasket and the oil filter. STILL my truck is leaking oil BAD.

I can't see where the heck its coming from, but ONLY the area from the oil filter to the front of the motor are saturated in oil. The pass. engine mount is also SOAKED. I can't even see where oil COULD POSSIBLY leak from on the front quarter, passenger side of the motor.

PLEASE TELL ME. What am i overlooking???? Is there ANYTHING ELSE that could possibly leak oil???? This is realy pissing me off because it seems soooo simple, but i don't see ANYTHING except an oil filter, pan gasket, and the block. WTF????

HELP!!!!!!1

 

not sure where it could be coming from but you need to clean up the area. Get some engine bright and a power washer and clean the area of dirt and oil so you can locate the leak easier.

 

Front timing chain cover, fuel pump blockoff (older head, efi engine)

 

One problem might be the style of filter. The domestic filters, while they will fit the engine, do not have the pressure bypass valve inside like the OEM Toyota filters have. What's the difference? In the domestic engine, the bypass valve is in the engine/filter mount, so spikes in pressure, especially when starting or when cold, are relieved. With the Toyota engines, there is no bypass other than in the filter. So if the pressure gets too high and the filter doesn't relieve the pressure, something may give. You might try a for-Toyota filter and see if that helps. And yes, clean the engine well and try to find the source of the leak.

 

WHERE is the fuel pump blockoff located???

THANK YOU GUYS SOOOOO much for the quick replies!


Oil filter- The only reason i don't think its' the filter is because i ran the last filter for 3k. miles, without a drop.

I already cleaned the area, looked for leaks, and nothing. Got back from a quick off-road test. EVERYTHING was soaked again!!

I'll go clean everything again, and try to spot another leak. KEEP the ideas comming. I REALLY need to get this fixed for work tomorow! THANKS!

 

Fuel pump mounts to the head, opposite the distributor.

On the filter, while you may have run it for 3000 miles, it may have been responsible for the over pressure event that blew out some other gasket or seal and that is what is now causing the leak. There is a reason the OEM filters have a pressure bypass valve inside. Without one, the pressure will bypass somewhere, finding the weakest link in the system.

 

Are you sure you didn't end up with 2 oil filter gaskets when you changed the filter last time. If you aren't careful the old one stick to the block and make for a leakly mess when the presure goes up. Depending on how hard you cranked down on the new filter sometimes it takes a bit of driving to begin blowing out. Just a thought since I did it to myself one time. Unless you know for sure it's worth spinning off the new one to check.

 

An easy thing to check, is to make sure the valve cover nuts are snug. They can get loose, and oil leaks out around the valve cover gasket.

 

Thanks darryl! Yeah. I checked that FIRST. I figure, check the easiest thing first! About taking a bit of driving...... I changed to a NEW filter, and cranked it down good. Did the same thing.



4crawler- it isn't the fuel pump block off. The head up is super dry.

Are you saying it's not good to run the v-8 filter? You seem to be super knowledgable, so your opionin is highly valued. I understand the bypass thing, and it makes sence. Many guys say to run the filter, but i seems like a bad idea now.

Also, what kind of seals could i have possibly blown out that is between the oil filter and front of the block? I cant even see any seals!

thanks!

 

Make sure you didn't over tighten it as well. As stated before I would stick with Toyota filters. Even though the other has more capacity they do not have as fine of filtering medium and no by pass valves!
Good luck
Mike

 

I had a huge leak last year. It was the crank seal. Very common problem as I later discovered. It wasnt hard to find as it was spewing everywhere as the fan was blowing it everywhere.

http://groups-beta.google.com/groups...rank+seal+leak

I would clean the engine and then look for the leak.

 

There's an oil port that's blocked off w/ a plug behind the front pass side motor mount that could be leaking. As mentioned above check the crank seal too.

 

On my '85 Supra the cam seals were pretty terrible... my engine compartment would be covered in oil after like a minute... I don't know if that's the prob, just thought I'd throw in my .02.

 

check your oil pressure switch/sender, its near the oil filter down by the oil pan rail, Ive seen those leak before

 

I'm wondering if your PCV valve is plugged. If it is, pressure builds up in the crankcase and blows oil out.

 

yea i would go ahead and replace the oil pump o ring and the front crank seal for preventitive mesures ,did this just start after you changed the oil filter? got a stock one and run it.make sure the old gasket is not still stuck to the block like someone said before.

 

I had this problem a year ago and would clean the engine bay daily and line the walls with small towels to determine the leak source. I had trouble finding the exact spot since the oil was everywhere in the front passenger side of the the engine compartment. I first thought that it was a loose oil filter or the mechanical fuel pump cover but came to find months later that it was the timing chain cover, which is the probable source.

I hate to tell you this but adding a new gasket will require you to remove head from the block first. My old engine was from my '88 and had 197K miles. I decided to rebuild the engine instead of replacing the worn gasket. This is something you may want to consider, especially if your engine has a mileage count similar to mine.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Eliyah

 

Actually, you don't. Dropping the oil pan will make reinstalling the timing cover easier though. I've even replaced a timing chain w/o removing the head or oil pan.

 

my 88 did the same thing, it turned out it was the front main crank seal-- I thought it was something else, but I guess it was just blowback from the oil dripping onto the balancer and flinging everywhere!

T