94 camry oil pan gasket leak

[Sydneycamry]

I have a 94 camry with the 3sfe engine. It has a oil pan gasket leak that wasn't dripping but over the week it has started to drip onto the driveway after driving it. There are at least a dozen spill marks on the driveway each about 5 sometimes more cms in diameter.

About an 1 hour and a half after its been parked it leaked about 3-4 cm initially and stops leaking any further. (i think). Will this get progressively worse? Like over the next few weeks will it get so bad that the low oil light will come on?

How much oil am i loosing here a week?

Also very important: can an oil pan gasket leak whilst i'm driving? I was under the impression that i won't because the pump is circulating the oil and hence sucking it away from the gasket?

Thanks in advance

[AlmightyCamry777]

Will this get progressively worse? Like over the next few weeks will it get so bad that the low oil light will come on?

the answer is a defiinite maybe. If the oil pan is sealed by a gasket and sealer (you could see the gasket between the pan and the engine just by looking) the drip will probably stay about the same for a while. At least thats been my experience. If the oil pan is sealed with a bead of silicone, only, i'd actually get ready to fix that leak now. (I'd use a real gasket, the silicone bead from the factory is a cost saving measure and far inferior to a gasket and sealer.)

As to how much oil you are using, you probably already have some idea. If not just use your trip odometer to find out how much. I have driven cars for years that leaked 1 qt oil per tankful of gas (and that is the most oil leakage i am willing to tolerate before fixing it). I just kept adding oil when i didnt want to bother fixing it if the car ran fine otherwise.

Oil leaks out primarily when the engine is running, because the oil system is under pressure from the oil pump. It's true that less oil is in the pan and more is in the engine during operation, but this isn't a factor for oil leakage.

It's important to find out exactly where the engine is leaking oil before tearing into it. It could be running out from someplace else but because the oil winds up on the oil pan before dripping off, the oil pan gasket is often the only thing suspected. I'd clean the engine with simple green and low pressure water, and find out exactly where the leak is coming from before spending lots of time and money.

[Sydneycamry]

Thanks Almighty. Some very good logical points. I think the gasket is the factory gasket from 94 i doubt its been changed. Which the mechanic said was a silicon based seal so i'm guessing its the dodgy bead type silicon.

[primo382]

I have a 1994 and 1996, both leaking from the same spot, both leak while running. I ran some UV dye through both and found both were leaking from the gasket between the oil pump body and the back of the block. The oil was travelling 3 inches downward in the crevice formed by the mating of the pump and block and from the naked eye looked like the pan gasket. Either way, the pan has to be removed to replace this pump gasket and of course requires the removal of the timing belt so I did the oil pump shaft seal, crankshaft seal, and camshaft seal. I also put in new drive and driven rotor gears in the oil pump for $40 because the shaft was grooved which made me think that a new seal wouldn't seal much longer if the groove became deeper. All in all cost me around $200 in parts and about 10 hours labor for each.

Or you could run stop Bars Leaks sealer. Personally I wouldn't dump anything in my motor but I've heard it works.