oil pan gasket - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

lovely10 · 06-09-2009, 03:18 AM

so after changing my front brakes, i noticed there was ALOT of old oil and gunk underneath my car- i.e. control arm, passenger mud flap, all underneath passenger floor board, passenger rear suspension arm (wtf! lol), and a little on the oil pan and near the pulleys. and on the ground underneath the car, thered be 2 or 3 small drips of oil. i tried to follow the trail but its acually dripping from the carboard box thing...but anyway i came to the conclusion that it must be the oil pan gasket, because i personally changed the valve cover gasket, spark plugs gaskets, and top grommets, and to my understanding the only other place that an oil leak can occur from is either the oil pan or oil filter. the oil filter looked fine with no oil all over it.

so what i wanna know is, how hard is it to change the oil pan gasket on a 1990 4afe? i know about draining the oil and stuff but is there a write up on how to do it? or any tips? since ill have the car up on jack stands to bleed the brakes im thinking this would be a good time to do the oil pan gasket also. i called a local shop for a rough estimate and they quoted me 200 @ $100/hr. is that about right for an oil pan gasket replacement?

also, is there a place i can download an FSM for a 1990 corolla sr5 so i dont feel so stupid asking all these questions lol

thanks guys again for all your help with my other issues

90 GP · 06-09-2009, 04:02 AM

Might want to get a spray can of engine cleaner and shoot the underside of engine/chassis to help you verify where leak starts. Do not pressure wash just use a very light spray from garden hose to rinse it off. Another possible leak spot is the oil pressure switch. You will need to hit the library for a manual . Some libraries also offer an online service (Mitchells on Demand /Alldata) for an exact location of oil pressure switch and any future repair reference.

kcwa · 06-09-2009, 07:48 AM

The oil pressure switch (sensor) is just forward of the oil filter.

I agree with cleaning the engine (carefully) first to see if you can find the source of the leak. Replacing the oil pan gasket will required pulling out the lower motor supports and using a hoist or something to hold the engine up from above.

Keep us posted...

lovely10 · 06-10-2009, 07:03 PM

alright well i cleaned the oil pan to see if i could find a leak, but to no avail. i drove the car around, parked, and still saw a few drops of oil on the ground. so i jacked up the car and saw that the oil pan was CLEAN and dry...i did find that the oil filter was loose but nothing had changed after a test drive.

there its a possibility that it could be the oil pressure switch but ill have a shop look at it since shes going into the shop for a rounded out caliper bolt -_-

anyway, after close inspection, i saw that there was a small amount of oil coming from one of the pulleys (not sure which pulley) but yeah so basically it goes; LEAK -> PULLEY -> CARDBOARD THING -> CEMENT.

is there another gasket that goes somewhere between an oil pan gasket and a valve cover gasket that can leak oil? it only happens on the passanger side, if that helps any.

would a headgasket cause an oil leak? im not getting white smoke or anything...HELP

SuperRA · 06-10-2009, 07:19 PM

I had an oil leak through one of my camshaft seals on my 4AFE. It was dried out and hard.

lovely10 · 06-10-2009, 07:53 PM

hmm never thought of that. where is that located on a 4afe? and how hard is it to replace? howd you know it ws a camshaft seal?

tashirosgt · 06-10-2009, 08:51 PM

I can't figure out what you mean by "the cardboard box thing". The kind of utter mess that you describe often comes from grease flung out of cracked boots on CV joints. You must really have a bad leak if this is all oil. I assume when you changed the valve cover gasket, that you put the dabs of sealer at the ends near the camshaft. Failing to do that would account for a small leak. But your's sounds worse.

Ghostyman · 06-10-2009, 09:19 PM

My advice is this:

1. Clean the engine with some degreaser or engine cleaner. This will make it easier to find the leak.

2. Put .5oz of fluorescent dye in the oil. This is available for a few dollars at your local auto parts store.

3. Run the engine for 15 minutes.

4. Use a blacklight to inspect the area where you suspect the leak is. You will see a green glow under the blacklight if any oil has leaked out.

This is the easiest and most reliable way to find an oil leak. I recommend it all the time but people rarely listen.

ericdude · 06-10-2009, 10:41 PM

I'm guessing the 'cardboard thingy' he's referring to is the splash shield, which
some people incorrectly refer to as the 'skid plate'. (It may keep a frog from
jumping into the alternator belt, but that's about it.

) There's one on each side
under the front of the car.

Honestly, I have a similar leak and I've seen it drip from straight behind the balancer.
I assume it's the front main seal but it could also be the (single) 4AF camshaft seal.
(Yes, the 4AF(E) is dual camshaft, the one is wholely inside the engine.)

Problem with the dye is the belt may fling the oil all over the place.
(Or maybe not, and I'm full of crap, but everything near the belts on my vehicle,
including the compressor is covered with 10w-30.

)

Ghostyman · 06-10-2009, 11:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericdude

Problem with the dye is the belt may fling the oil all over the place.
(Or maybe not, and I'm full of crap, but everything near the belts on my vehicle,
including the compressor is covered with 10w-30.

)

That's why step 1 is cleaning it.

Unless your oil leak is incredibly severe, you won't get fresh oil flung around by the belt after 15 minutes of idling. If you leak enough oil that it does get flung around, you still won't have much trouble finding the problem area. It will be the strongest concentration of glow, versus distributed splatters.

Furthermore (because I'm on a roll), let's say you don't see anything after 15 minutes of idle. Maybe you need to drive the car under load for the leak. You go to work the next day, come home, and check under the car. There's a lot of oil and a lot of dye and it's spread around a bit. How do you know where the leak is? Find the highest point of oil. That's your leak.

SuperRA · 06-11-2009, 01:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lovely10

hmm never thought of that. where is that located on a 4afe? and how hard is it to replace? howd you know it ws a camshaft seal?

Its located just behind the timing belt pulley on the camshaft. You'll have to take off the timing cover and valve cover I think.

I pretty much just traced it. My engine was clean enough to begin with that I could see. It was a while ago but think think more along the inside of the timing cover and got the timing belt oily. It then dripped down after soaking the oil pan and lower components in oil.

Good luck.

lovely10 · 06-12-2009, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuperRA

Its located just behind the timing belt pulley on the camshaft. You'll have to take off the timing cover and valve cover I think.

I pretty much just traced it. My engine was clean enough to begin with that I could see. It was a while ago but think think more along the inside of the timing cover and got the timing belt oily. It then dripped down after soaking the oil pan and lower components in oil.

Good luck.

okay so like i said, i took it to a shop thinking it was the oil pan and turns out that its the camshaft seal like yours. they also suggested doing the timing belt and tensioner too so i guess ill have that done. the water pump was changed in '04, it should still be good right?

however the shop said that it COULD also be oil pan or something else but they said for sure the cam seal since it was all glossy and stuff

SuperRA · 06-12-2009, 04:22 PM

Yea, if you have no history on the timing belt I guess I'd have it done. I suppose the water pump is fine.

lovely10 · 06-13-2009, 01:40 PM

actually, i carfax'd it and found that the timing belt and water pump was changed in 2004. lets see so about 5 years ago? the shop said that if oil gets on to the belt, it really messes up the belt and shoretens it lifespan and stuff.

but yeah thanks guys for your help and suggestions!

Ghostyman · 06-13-2009, 02:26 PM

I was going to comment that the water pump and timing belt are usually done at the same time but you found that out.

Don't worry about either of them for a while. Do you know how many miles have passed since they were installed? Your car is non-interference so you don't have much to worry about if the timing belt breaks. Timing belts are labor-intensive jobs and (in my opinion) it would be unnecessary on your car.

A timing belt job could easily cost close to the value of the car.

EDIT: and if you haven't yet, clean the engine bay when you get it back. A couple bucks worth of degreaser and a garden hose do wonders. It makes it much more pleasant to work on or diagnose problems.