Fixing Oil Leak-What could be dumping oil?

[Andrew Liu]

My 96 camry is leaking oil pretty badly. It loses about a qt. every 600-ish miles, maybe more miles than that, I haven't been paying close attention.

I'm hoping that this is the easier fix, that the oil pan gasket has gone bad.

As of right now, it leaks badly from the passenger side. The driver's side leak has since nearly disappeared after replacing the valve cover gasket.

I've been looking around toyotanation, and the oil pump and distributor shaft could also be leaking. I'm hoping it isn't the oil pump, as I'm not that comfortable with the insides of an engine.

Couple questions:

-Could the oil pan gasket be leaking this much oil? As far as I know it has never been replaced, and the car has over 220,000mi.

-Heres a newbie question as well, what/where is the distributor shaft/cap?

-Since the car has so many miles, and hasn't been maintained as well as it should've (dad's problem), would it be beneficial to move up to 15w-30 instead of 10w-30? I'm only worried about the Michigan winters this car will be experiencing.

-Would switching to synthetic now be harmful/beneficial to my engine in any way? Sludge reduction would be nice, theres a bit in the cam area.

Things I plan on doing:
-Replacing Oil Pan Gasket
-Oil change (possibly to 15w-30)
-Replace Oil Filter with AC-Delco.

[CupCate18]

What engine?

[new echo owner]

Must be a four, I don't believe the six has a distributor.

The distributor is right above the transmission on the other end of the camshaft hold down by two bolts.

Right side of the car, it sounds like you may have seals leaking from the front of the engine; front cam seal, front crank seal, oil pump seal, they are all on that side.

N.E.O.

[rty]

15W30 is too thick for the winter in my opinion. You could try high mileage oil since it has a seal conditioner to minimize leaks. I don't know how well it works though.

If you look at the engine you should be able to tell where is is leaking from. I wouldn't switch to synthetic until you fix the leaks since it tends to leak more.

[Andrew Liu]

Sorry about not mentioning the engine, it's a 5SFE.

The timing cover is covering up all the crankshaft/oil pump seals, so is there any other way of telling if they're leaking without taking it off?

The flat-ish portion under the passenger side of the car (probably the oil pan) is drenched and dripping in black oil. So was the entire engine side closest to the firewall, but replacing the valve cover gasket fixed that.

[new echo owner]

Do you know when was the last time you had the timing belt replace? Or water pump?

Using oil dye with a Black light, or clean the engine and then recheck it after putting some miles on it may be the only ways to tell what is leaking.

N.E.O.

[bronzemaxell]

if you use a brake cleaner and spray at the oil wet area to clean them out, then keep driving and see where new oil coming in about a few days or a week,

if oil is around the engine oil pan area, you will see area 2 or 3 inch above oil pan will be dry and clean.

cam seal, crankshaft seal oil pump seal, oil pump o-ring will cause oil leak wet spot above oil pan area, and will require to take out timing belt to replace them.

rear main seal will leak between engine and transmission.

[new echo owner]

BE CAREFUL WITH USING THE BRAKE CLEANER, they can be dangerous.

N.E.O.

[islandboy57]

Originally Posted by Andrew Liu

-Since the car has so many miles, and hasn't been maintained as well as it should've (dad's problem), would it be beneficial to move up to 15w-30 instead of 10w-30? I'm only worried about the Michigan winters this car will be experiencing.

-Would switching to synthetic now be harmful/beneficial to my engine in any way? Sludge reduction would be nice, theres a bit in the cam area.

Things I plan on doing:
-Replacing Oil Pan Gasket
-Oil change (possibly to 15w-30)
-Replace Oil Filter with AC-Delco.

I use 10W-40 in my mom's gen 3.5. It has a slight oil leak somewhere but it's a very slow one so I'm not too worried. Lately I've been using Castrol GTX "anti-sludge" oil in it and the car appears to be running smoother. I used to just buy whatever was on sale OR Mobil1 "5000" high mileage.

I've contemplated the switch to synthetic but I've decided just keeping up with oil changes is enough. I change it every 3mo which amounts to less than 1000 miles.

I use Toyota OEM filters, which are very reasonable in price at your local Toyota parts counter. Don't forget to get crush gaskets for your oil pan drain bolt, since you'll be there to pick up an oil pan gasket anyway.

[finfinder]

Originally Posted by bronzemaxell

if you use a brake cleaner and spray at the oil wet area to clean them out, then keep driving and see where new oil coming in about a few days or a week,

if oil is around the engine oil pan area, you will see area 2 or 3 inch above oil pan will be dry and clean.

cam seal, crankshaft seal oil pump seal, oil pump o-ring will cause oil leak wet spot above oil pan area, and will require to take out timing belt to replace them.

rear main seal will leak between engine and transmission.

If you've got 220k and have never changed the seals then I would bet that its time. My camry leaked like a mother until I got the seals changed during a timing belt replacement and put some rtv on the valve cover gasket to keep it from leaking. I finally don't see/smell any oil leaks. Then Seafoam that mother. I've got 230k and she purrs like a kitten now. I'll bet your egr valve is nearly clogged shut too. Take it off and clean it.