Newbie - What am I doing wrong?

[candreasen]

I posted this thread two days ago and had 30 viewers but not one reply. Am I posting incorrectly or has no one experienced this kind of oil leak????

I have a very clean 95 Camry 4 cyl automatic. Three months ago it started to leak oil when parked. Quite a bit would drop centrally between the front tires. I recently had Toyota repair an oil leak on my 92 Camry for about $600 when it dripped below my timing cover. I thought the worst with the 95 dripping centrally - perhaps a rear main seal - and pulling the engine to repair. I love the car, but I reluctantly made plans to trade it. After 2 months of leaking a lot, it has quit leaking and has been clean and dry for a month. What happened?

[97&02camryleI4]

Maybe the leaky seal/gasket stopped leaking because some particles/sludge/whatever floating around created a seal against the leak? Just a guess...

[drunken_panda]

Or you ran out of oil ....

[Gary_602Z]

Who knows what happened! Just keep an eye on it and the oil level.

Gary

[solarinsocal]

It could be your steering rack. Did you check your power steering fluid levels?

[marc780]

The leak may have stopped for now but it will be back, unfortunately...
First find out WHAT is leaking (oil? PS fluid? ATF?) and WHERE it is leaking from. To do this just give the engine a really good cleaning, use canned degreaser at the DIY carwash and clean it but good, esp. under neath! Jack it up in the air if you have to (USE JACKSTANDS) but get the engine clean like new.
Then just drive it a little, and get some kneepads orsomething soft cause youll be getting very intimate with your car's underside. Use a flashlight and find the leak. Use your finger to get some leaky fluid and smell it to identify what is leaking.
If its the front or center of the engine and its oil, it is: 1. Front main bearing seal. Youll have to remove the engine front covers, and timing belt and stuff to get at it. Hopefully the belt needs changing anyway. 2. oil pan gasket leaking. change it. 3. Drain plug leaking (use a copper gasket made for this) 4. Rear main seal (argg - tough to change but not too expensive but you have to pull the trans or engine out to get to it.)
If youre lucky it might be something simple to fix. If not, i recomend a haynes manual to help in pulling parts to get a t the leak to fix it.

[project92camry]

find out where exactly its comming from so that you can have a better chance of us helping you

[Digger1]

Can,

After the leak starts up again (as it probably will, someday), do what Marc said (about cleaning up the engine and all).

After you do what Marc said, you will at least have a good idea where the general area of the leak is.

When you've got the general area nailed down, clean this area real good again. Then, get you a can of jock itch spray (I use Cruex) and spray some around the suspected leak area. The spray goes on as a white powder. After driving the car a few miles, look at the area you sprayed. If you see the white spray powder turning brown, you've just found your leak.