Oil leak - Help! - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

bavula · 04-18-2007, 04:03 PM

I have a 1998 Toyota Camry LE 4 Cylinder with 100K miles on it.

Lately I have been noticing an oil leak in the garage when I start the car in the mornings. Once the car runs for a while (warms up), the leakage stops.

This morning when I started the car, the oil has been leaking hard ('flowing out of the engine' is a better phrase). The first block or two that I drove by had an oil line that traces my car path. I quickly added some oil to temporarily prevent any adverse condition.

I opened the hood, and I see a lot of oil near the oil dipstick area.

The car underwent 90K service about 8 months ago.

I searched this forum for more information, and I found that these symptoms are typical of an Oil pump O-ring leak. Is that assessment correct? Or could it be something else?

I would like to know if this is easy enough for an ameteur technician but a technically inclined person like me to perform the O-ring replacement. Any tricks/gotchas involved? Can someone share the part numbers of the O-rings if they have?

thanks a lot for your help!

***toyomoho*** · 04-18-2007, 08:35 PM

The oil pump is on the passenger’s side of the engine, is the oil coming from this area? Check the area where the oil filter seats, and the oil cooler and hoses located between the filter and block.

bavula · 04-18-2007, 10:32 PM

toyomoho - Thanks for the reply. Yes, the oil seems to be coming from the passenger side of the engine. Upon opening the hood, I actually see a lot of oil around the oil filter - dipstick area.

And as I said earlier, this leak occurs only when the engine is cold. Once it warms up, it does not lean anymore.

bavula · 04-20-2007, 03:26 PM

Yesterday, I opened the hood after starting the engine, and noticed that oil is oozing out of the Oil Filter. I then realised that it has been 10,000 miles since I last got the oil and filter changed.

After getting the oil and filter changed, the leak disappeared. I verified it today.

mandyfig · 04-20-2007, 05:06 PM

Could be that the oil filter was not tightened properly. Looks like it. Did you try to tighten them?

mandyfig · 04-20-2007, 05:06 PM

Could be that the oil filter was not tightened properly. Looks like it. Did you try to tighten them?

bavula · 04-22-2007, 02:53 PM

I did not try to tighten it. I figured that since the oil/filter has not been replaced for 10,000 miles, the filter must have run out of its 'usable life', and started leaking.

Anyways, once I changed the oil/filter, the problem is fixed. Thanks all for your help!