Ran out of ideas (where could I be leaking???)

[renmike]

Not a huge problem (yet) but I would like to solve this before it gets worse. Ever since I got this car, I've been fixing one leak after another. First it was the oil pan gasket, then the rear main seal, and lastly the distributor o-ring and valve cover gasket. Unfortunately, i'm still noticing a faint burning smell and the last time I checked, it still looked damp on the backside of the engine. Now, I recently checked my compression and it was fine, and there's no oil/coolant mixing that I can see. Is there anything in the back that I'm missing that could be leaking? If I understand, for an oil leak to occur at the head gasket, I would have noticed a mix of oil and coolant, right? Is there anything under the throttle body that could be dripping down and running down the back of the block? Any plugs that I'm missing on the back of the engine. If I have to pull this engine out too many more times, I'm going to be in the market for a complete v6 subframe swap...

[ghettosled]

the oil pump o-ring is in such a place that when it starts to leak, it drips down the back side of the motor.

[renmike]

Originally Posted by ghettosled

the oil pump o-ring is in such a place that when it starts to leak, it drips down the back side of the motor.

I thought about that at first, but it seems to be coming from the rear of the engine. If you were underneath facing the side of the engine towards the firewall, it looks like its originating on the left side, under the distributor housing/corner of the head gasket area. My gut feeling keeps on telling me that it seems to be leaking right around the head gasket, but with it not contaminating the coolant, I'm very confused. I thought that maybe there's a plug or something that could be loose or needs to be siliconed up there, or is there anything that would deal with oil coming from under the throttle body?

Thanks for the suggestion though.

[bupthmt]

cam seal or crank seal, and the oil pump o ring as already pointed out. my car(same as yours ) has exactly the same problem. will change all of the seal to see

Originally Posted by renmike

I thought about that at first, but it seems to be coming from the rear of the engine. If you were underneath facing the side of the engine towards the firewall, it looks like its originating on the left side, under the distributor housing/corner of the head gasket area. My gut feeling keeps on telling me that it seems to be leaking right around the head gasket, but with it not contaminating the coolant, I'm very confused. I thought that maybe there's a plug or something that could be loose or needs to be siliconed up there, or is there anything that would deal with oil coming from under the throttle body?

Thanks for the suggestion though.

[Axel Kain]

i also have seen that, except not as bad... i noticed when i had my front valve cover off, its the end of the cam area, where there is a circle between the valve cover, and head (looking from trans side), it seems to leak some around that, even after i replaced the valvecover gasket.

also something i cant seem to find in haynes...where's the oil pressure sensor/sender?

[renmike]

Originally Posted by Axel Kain

i also have seen that, except not as bad... i noticed when i had my front valve cover off, its the end of the cam area, where there is a circle between the valve cover, and head (looking from trans side), it seems to leak some around that, even after i replaced the valvecover gasket.

also something i cant seem to find in haynes...where's the oil pressure sensor/sender?

The oil pressure switch (we don't have a guage, just a dummy light) is located (if you are standing at the front of the car looking at the engine) on the right side of the head (maybe block?) facing towards you. Its a few inches below the valve cover, I can remember that much.

As for my leak, my oil level seems pretty stable, so I doubt I'm losing a lot. I also think I've got a leak at my tranny input shaft seal at the moment, so there's a possibility that fairly soon they both might come back out.

I do have another question since I've got the thread opened back up, it's more of a "where could the noise coming from" question. When I'm in Drive (not in Reverse, Park, etc) there is a noise coming from the passenger side of the engine compartment. It sounds like a vibration that is very notible when I'm stopped at a red light. When I go to take off, it kinda hums until I get to about 40 mph then it tapers off.

Now, I would normally have attributed it to a pulley bearing going out (kinda what it sounds like), but it'll do it only in drive, if I'm sitting at a light and drop it into park, neutral or reverse, the noise goes away. Could anything be making that noise *only* going forward? My suspicion leads me to think it might have something to do with the axle or the brakes, i.e. the axle vibrating in the carrier bearing attached to the block or the caliper not holding as well as it should, leading to a slight vibration. I dunno.

[Sniperdude]

I've replaced all the seals you have. I have one that hasn't been replaced yet, but I know it's leaking called the camshaft seal.

Maybe yours is leaking?

[renmike]

Just an update to this thread. I *think* my leak is stemming from the half-moon shaped cam plug on the driver's side of the head. If I get the chance tomorrow, I'll remove the valve cover and reseal the plug with some rtv. Also, my noise seemed to go away when I had to replace my alternator shortly after I started the thread. Why it went away, i couldn't honestly tell you, because we had isolated the vibration to a power steering hose vibrating against the firewall.

Anyways, i do need to ask a question. When I swapped the engine out, the lower half i replaced with was from a 94 model, while the reused the head from my original 95 engine. Reading a few threads, it seems that there are supposed to be passage differences between those two years. if anyone has any proof or documentation of this, i'd really appreciate it. I'm not having any cooling issues, so i'm just trying to confirm what i've read.

[renmike]

Morning everyone. Just bumping this back up to the top, couldn't find any real good information to answer my question about the known differences between the 94 block and 95 head. I'm hoping one of our Camry Guru's will step up and help out with this one