5sfe bad oil leak

[1990ST184]

i have a real bad oil leak coming from my celica gt. doesnt appear to be coming from the oil pan. took it to a local shop and they said it is the front oil seal, and timing cover seal. he also tried to charge me 500 bucks to do it. is it really that hard of a job to do. he told me it was mostly labor charges. can this be done by yourself fairly easily? if the engine is running, the oil drips about every 15-2o seconds with the car off maybe every minute or so. im putting in about a quart a day. the car runs great otherwise even for a highmilage vehicle. just wish i could open the windows without smelling burnt oil.

[TBayToyotaBoy]

I'm in the middle of doing this myself, so I can tell you from first-hand experience what it's like. My front crank seal (under the timing cover) is leaking like a sieve, about three times worse than yours (with the engine idling, it was dripping around once every second).

It's not exactly a difficult job (I'm not a mechanic, but I've been working on my Yotas for around ten years now), but you need a lot of patience. And penetrating oil (for the crank pulley). And a torch (also for the crank pulley). Oh, and an impact gun (for the crank pulley retainer bolt). You have to be very careful that you follow the steps to remove the timing belt to the letter (set the #1 piston to top dead center ON THE COMPRESSION STROKE, not the exhaust), or you'll goof the timing and waste all that time and effort.

I've got the engine apart, waiting on the seals from NAPA (I'm replacing the crank seal and the oil pump o-ring/oil seal). So far, I've been at it for around six hours--but I work outside, at night, in the cold. I would bet I'll have eight hours in by the time I'm done. I'd say that's worth doing, to save $500 or $600 at the mechanic's. And it's always good to get to know your engine first-hand, you can see if any other problems have cropped-up like a worn timing belt or tensioner...good luck, whatever you do. Just GET IT FIXED, or you'll blow a bearing with all that low oil pressure.

P.S.: Read the service manual and get a feel for the job:
http://www.onlinefreeebooks.net/auto...anual-pdf.html

[concealer404]

You couldn't pay me enough to do the timing cover seal. Pay the $500 and move along. (I just did a timing belt/head gasket job this weekend)

[Pineapple]

The crank seal alone is not too bad if you've been working on the engine before.
You'll need impact gun, pulley puller and seal puller. You'll need something (like a pipe) to tap the seal in with the shaft sticking out.
If you haven't change timing belt, water pump, all the other seals, its a good time to do them also.

[christine_lives!]

Took me 6 hours on the street. Most of my time was wasted clearing old gaskets and cleaning for new ones. I went to autozone, bought locking 19" chain pliers for $24. I used an old cut up belt and wrapped it around the crank pulley. Using a pipe extension on the pliers wedged to the frame, I put a breaking bar with a 4' pipe extension on the crankshaft bolt. It took 30 seconds to break that bitch loose. Cheap leverage is your friend. My total cost of parts for pump, tools, gaskets and seals came out to about $75.

[1990ST184]

ended up being just an o-ring seal on the oil pump that was making me lose massive amounts of oil. of course the timing cover/belt had to come off which was a pain in the ass.