2000 Camry 4cyl Oil Leak?

[kungkool]

2000 Camry CE 4 cyl 185,000 miles (and would like to drive many more)

I noticed today my passenger side front wheel area was coated with an oil substance. I had recently had the struts looked at at a local shop and thought maybe they might have sprayed something in there. But it was all over the place. So I got under the car and saw that there was an oil mixture coating everything below the motor and it had worked its way over to the tire well and flung itself all around from driving. There appears to be a pool of oil resting on my intake manifold and everything from the Cylinder Head Cover/ Gasket on the backside is wet with oil. The Fuel Delivery Pipe is completely coated with wet oil and dirt build up. I am hoping that some oil was just spilled at my last oil change but since that was 1800 miles ago I am worried it may be worst than that. The car did recently sit for a 3 week period while I was out of town (not sure if that has anything to do with it)


I looked at my Haynes Guide and it says: Oil puddle under engine can be one of 5 things:

1 Oil Pan gasket or bolt leak
2 Oil Pressure Sending Unit leaking
3 Valve Covers Leakage
4 Engine Oil seals leaking
5 Oil pump housing leaking

Has anybody else had this problem and if so please advise. I would like to get more years out of my CAM but seeing random oil under the hood has me concerned.

[Gun5]

u listed pretty much everything.. i just picked up my car its doing all those well everyting on the bakc of the motor

[kocho]

You need to clean the engine then see where it is coming from. I have similar problem, but on a much smaller scale. In my case it is the semi-circular plug on the passenger side that is leaking slowly. This is under $30 fix with dealer parts. So, I will be replacing the valve cover gasket and the two semi-circular plugs on either side under the valve cover.

I had a leak at the engine oil pan as well, but I had fixed that already some months earlier. This is a $4 fix, but it is hard to get to - I had the transmission and exhaust removed at the time for other reasons and was easy to do, but I think you need to detatch the front of the exhaust to remove the pan...

Yours seems to come from above, so valve cover gasket and the semi-circular plugs should be high on your list. There is also the oil pressure switch but I think it is on the front/pass side. Camshaft oil seals are on the driver side and I think not that easy to replace (have not checked).

But cleaning the engine is prety much mandatory to see where stuff is coming from...

[kungkool]

Thanks Kocho! What is the easiest way to clean the motor?

[kocho]

Originally Posted by kungkool

Thanks Kocho! What is the easiest way to clean the motor?

Try to find a wash place where you can wash your car yourself. Drive there, pre-soak the engine with the entire contents of a large can of engine cleaner, wait for 10-15 minutes, then drive-in and wash it off with lots of water. You may have to repeat/scrub if needed.

I usually cover the alternator/distributor with a plastic bag and try not to spray too much water where not necessary.

No easy way unfortunately...

[Buurin]

My dad's 97 just sprang an oil leak today. 1/4 was gone from dipstick within hours . Oil was all over driver side control arms and subframe. I looked at it and the source seems to be somewhere behind the igniters. Could be either engine main seal (that I can't get to yet) or a pipe the goes to what looks like the EGR valve. I had no time for this, so it's going to a local indie shop tomorrow. Otherwise I would have tried to fix it myself.

[ghettosled]

sounds like you might have a couple of leaks. back of the motor being coated sounds like its coming from the engine, but i have my doubts engine oil can work its way over to the wheel well and got flung around. i would also check out your outter CV boots to see if they are broken. that is the only oil ive experienced that can spray around a wheel well. and once that oil is sprayed out and then cleaned up, it wont continue to leak because all of the oil is out.

so clean the motor to see where that is leaking and check out your CV boots as well.

[Cajun]

Originally Posted by Buurin

My dad's 97 just sprang an oil leak today. 1/4 was gone from dipstick within hours . Oil was all over driver side control arms and subframe. I looked at it and the source seems to be somewhere behind the igniters. Could be either engine main seal (that I can't get to yet) or a pipe the goes to what looks like the EGR valve. I had no time for this, so it's going to a local indie shop tomorrow. Otherwise I would have tried to fix it myself.

I have the same leak around the drivers side of the engine. Oil behind and under the coils. All over the pipes (EGR?) on the back of the engine.

Is this valve covers? Or the semi circle seals on the end of the cams?

Is this a common spot for leaks?

[stoneworks75]

overfilled 2000 camry 4 cylinder last oil change, checked & thought I had right amount of oil on dipstick,guess there was a touch to much,now there is oil leak , is there a oil pressure switch or small plug the oil is leaking from? small oil patches on driveway, no leaks around head gasket,

[Gun5]

I got my oil pan gasket replaced checked the valve cover one, got a new crank seal, cam seal and oil pump seal and I checked the rear main when I did the oil pan it was fine.. I was wondering what else could leak from the top rear of the motor? it looks like some kind of piping system maybe EGR/AIR

[xtremeskier97]

Originally Posted by Gun5

I got my oil pan gasket replaced checked the valve cover one, got a new crank seal, cam seal and oil pump seal and I checked the rear main when I did the oil pan it was fine.. I was wondering what else could leak from the top rear of the motor? it looks like some kind of piping system maybe EGR/AIR

Distributor O-ring.

[Cajun]

Originally Posted by xtremeskier97

Distributor O-ring.

Anyone got a link for a how-to on changing this? Is it a hard job?

[Gun5]

definitely was the dist Oring it's all under it.. the crank seal and oil pump seal where just coated too when I took the pullies off yesterday so she's getting all new gaskets all the way around