Re-gasket engine, need suggestions - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

kartracer03 · 03-14-2007, 09:46 AM

I have had a persistent oil leak for a while. I have tried different items but cannot resolve the leak. I would like to stop the leak so I can park in my driveway without leaving spots. Also, it has been 66,000 miles since last timing belt change. With both the timing belt and oil leak, I am contemplating pulling the engine and trans to re-gasket the engine. I would be looking at replacing the front and rear main seals, camshaft seal, oil pump seal, water pump gasket, distributor o-ring, oil pan gasket, and valve cover gasket. Is there anything I am missing or should add to the list? I have looked at complete gasket kits for the 5SFE and they include a head gasket. Should I do the head gasket or not?

What seals / gaskets should I do on the transmission while it is out?

Is this crazy to attempt with a car that has 224,000 miles on it? I am open to ideas / opinions.

ghettosled · 03-14-2007, 11:47 AM

is it really worth the time and effort to pull the motor and replace every seal? your leak might be coming from just one or two of the seals that arent hard to reach.

Sniperdude · 03-14-2007, 11:55 AM

If you're going to pull the motor, you might want to just swap yours with a newer one from a yard.

TAckhouse1 · 03-14-2007, 09:14 PM

I would side with others, not sure what labor would be on that, but I can imagine it would not be cheap. I am running into the same issue with my 94' with 180k, I'm getting to the point where I debate, "is it still worth sinking this amount of $$$ into this car?"

GrkBallaG · 03-14-2007, 09:18 PM

Wow, why dont you just find out where the oil leak is coming from and just fix that. Its not worth taking the motor out just to find that one stupid seal was leaking (i.e distributor o-ring etc.)

kartracer03 · 03-15-2007, 08:29 AM

The labor would not be an issue since I would be doing it. I would lose the car for two weekends but not an issue since it just my commuter.

Maybe I'll try to track it down some more before going this deep. Is the distributor O-ring only available at the dealer?

Next question, what seals / gaskets should I replace when I do the timing belt? Also, I've seen timing belt kits that include the water pump. Is it worth replacing the water pump if I'm not having issues with cooling or coolant leaks?

I don't mind doing work to the car because it saves me money every week by being a reliable commuter.

Barcs · 03-15-2007, 11:58 AM

How much oil are you leaking per week? I have a 93 V6 LE and I was leaking a little less than a qt a week. What I did was spray the engine down with degreaser and then power washed it. I waited a few weeks and then checked out the engine to track down where the leak was coming from. It's a lot easier to spot when the engine is somewhat clean. I found it coming from the valve cover, so I replaced the valve cover gasket, which is only about an hours work (It took me longer because I take my time to make sure it's done right). There's really no need to yank your entire engine to replace gaskets that might be fine. I'd definitely track down the leak before wasting my time on that.