Oil leak at idle.

[thaharlequin]

It's pretty severe, something like 1 quart per hour when just idling. But... it burns maybe a quart every 3000 miles of highway driving so the oil pressure at load is enough to stop it. Any ideas what the culprit could be? I'm guessing a gasket, but who knows...

[wiccanferret]

You might want to provide some details on the year and engine...

[thaharlequin]

3VZ

[ghettosled]

if its leaking that badly, you should be able to see where the oil is leaking from. have you looked yet?

[Eye8Pussies]

could be just about anything at this point....

and if it' a gasket, then soon enough you'll be leaking just as badly, if not worse when the car is under load

things to check- crank position sensor- it can leak pretty badly
then camshaft seals, crank seal, etc.

[Novice_cardude]

I assume you've checked the obvious, the oil filter? I had a Camry come into the shop the other day with the wrong oil filter, and it was leaking pretty bad.

Also, check the PCV valve. My mustang was leaking oil out of the front main seal, rear main seal, and oil sending unit, until I replaced the PCV valve. No leaks at all now.

[Eye8Pussies]

^ very good point....without pressure release through the pcv, you can be leaking through other seals where it won't normally leak

[thaharlequin]

I finally got around to checking the PCV and it was fine. So i checked out under the engine and looked for the leak, which wasn't too hard to find since like ya said Eye8Pussies, it got worse. At first I thought it was the oil pan gasket, but on closer inspection it appears the oil filter flange gasket is borked. I dunno why it only leaks significantly at idle, but that's just how it is. In any event I gotta take care of it before it starts spewing out oil at cruise and before I know it the engine seizes. Thanks for the advice everyone!

[ncj_23]

If its that bad its NOT the gasket. check for a crack in your oil pain. you might need to get some purple engine scrub and get the old oil off of there so you can see where its leaking from

[thaharlequin]

Course it is. At first I though it was from the oil pan since I could see it dripping from there onto the exhaust/ground, but then noticed it was coming from above the pan, but not around the head. I used my digicam to do some inspecting and it turns out there's an o-ring ($10 from Toyota ) sealing the oil filter flange that went for some reason.