I'm in the market for a work truck this summer and I've been trolling the classifieds and looking for FS signs. Today I called on an 86' blue single cab pickup with a 22R engine and 170,000 miles. Its on a street I inspected last summer, so I new it had a pretty good body (no Juneau Rust).

The owner said it started well, but it leaked 1qt of oil a week . He is asking $1000 OBO so I thought I'd still check it out. I stopped by after work and opened the hood. There was oil everywhere! It was caked on the front of the engine, splattered on the underside of the hood, pooling on top of the battery and all over the inner fender of the passenger side.

I asked him if he had ever taken it in to see where the leak was coming from? He said his brother bought it new, and the current owner got it at 16,000 miles, it had a head gasket problem at 70,000 miles and the repair shop broke one of the timing cover bolts, so that's when the leak started. He had it fixed several years ago but the leak came back 6 months later. Needless to say, the fact that he did nothing to fix it for so long means the rest of his maintenance is probably a joke.

Now to my question. Where do you think the oil is coming from? Is it leaking out around the timing cover? If so, isn't that a pretty easy fix?

Lastly, it doesn't have power steering either, so even if it ran okay, I'd still pass. Is it really an 86? My 87' 4runner had power steering and was EFI, so this seems odd.

Thanks,

Erich

 

They probably overlooked the bolt in the top of the timing cover and broke the timing cover when they tried to pry it off. The best repair would have been to replace the cover. Ask him if the repair included replacing the cover.
The other likely culprit would be a leaking oil pump seal. When they crap out they will shoot oil all over the front of the engine, hood, pretty much the entire front of the engine compartment since the oil will run onto the pulley and then get slung off. And, they like to crap out a lot!
Get under it and see if you can see oil coming from behind the crank pulley. If it is just the oil pump seal, it is a relatively quick, easy and cheap fix. If it is the timing cover, that is going to be much more involved and more expensive. To me it sounds most like the oil pump seal.

 

I would say the front crank seal if probebly gone. The fan will then blow it all over the place. This is what happened to mine. Easy to fix.

 

I would agree with this...exact same thing happened to me. Crank seal was shot, started leaking at a decent rate and it flung everywhere. Cheap and easy fix. I had my radiator out when I did mine which made it very easy. I'm not sure if removal is required.

Dave

 

That's what I was thinking. I was impressed with the lack of components under the hood. All a guy'd have to do is remove the radiator and the grill and you'd have so much room to work it isn't even funny!

Erich

 

I had the same issue in a celica I picked up. The owner thought it was toast. I tightened the crank pully bolt & never leaked a drop again. Good score for me

 

It's very possibly a diamond in the rough, but I worry that he might have been a little slow refilling the oil every week, so who knows what kind of shape it's in. :pat:

I looked at two 87 and 85 landcruiser FJ60's today. I might go with the 85 which is a little rougher than the 87, but I'm not looking for a beauty queen.

Erich

 

If you could get that 86 for 6-700 bucks I think it would be a good deal. Real strong motor in there.

Congrats on the wedding BTW.

Dave

 

Thanks for the Congrats

I'd agree with you on the good deal IF it had power steering Plus I can't do the repairs myself as I have no garage, or even dry place to work

Erich

 

those 2wds are easy to steer, i've seen very few that ever came with power steering(now, 4x4s on the other hand, almost all of them had P/S).

 

It's not a 2wd.

Erich

 

hey i have a oil leak that sprays every where also i have replaced the valve cover gasket, front main seal and oil pump seal im gonna go check the bolt that holds the pully on and check the rest of the timeing cover bolts anywhere else to look?

thanks
sbj

 

front crank seal. $10 and 2 hours, good as new.

 

I had a '84 4x4 without power steering, and it was a piece of cake to steer.

 

the only time not having power steering is an issue is when you aren't moving. I actually like the firmness at highway speeds over having power steering. My truck does, for the record, have power steering, but other things i've driven dont/didnt.