Me and my oil leak -- help! - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

jawhie · 01-06-2005, 02:14 PM

Hi everyone, I'm a college student looking to learn more about my car and hopefully find cheap ways to fix her.

I've had my 1990 Celica GT for about a year and a half now. The engine is the 2.2 Liter 5s-fe and it's been leaking oil ever since I bought it. I have to put in a quart of oil every time I fill up the gas tank! The guy I bought it from told me his mechanic looked at it and said the main oil seals on the engine were worn and needed replacement. But the cost of replacing the seals would be almost as much as getting a new engine put in! Hence, I've been holding off on fixing the oil seals and trying to get my miles out of the engine. It's up to 233,000 miles and still runs fine (kudos to Toyota!).

I have recently noticed on my oil fill cap that the oil is a little frothy and white-ish. My friend says this could be coolant contaminating the oil. I checked the radiator cap and there is no evidence of oil although I'm not exactly sure what it would look like. It was just green coolant.

So I guess what I would like to know are where oil typically leaks from in a Celica, if any of you have had similar problems, and if it can be temporarily fixed until I decide to put in a new engine.

chronoti · 01-06-2005, 05:31 PM

hows the performance on the car? sounds like it might be bhg ......

jawhie · 01-07-2005, 12:27 AM

What do you mean "bhg"?

The performance is not that bad for a car with 233,000 miles on it. It's not like I race it or anything, but it gets me where I want to go without any fuss.

So I'm definitely thinking about getting a low mileage engine to swap in, but what are my options for that? Does it have to be a 5 series? Or can it be something cooler, faster, and much more kickasser than that? I really don't know much about engine types.

Also, my standard transmission is kinda messed up. The synchronizers for some of the gears are shot so they make grinding sounds when shifted into gear too fast. What's weird is it doesn't happen in the winter when the car is cold, but comes back when the car is warmed up. Anyway, I'm thinking of swapping engine and transmission simultaneously to save on labor costs. Is this a good idea? I heard the engine needs to be taken out to get to the transmission.

fredk · 01-07-2005, 08:37 PM

just pop the trans and motor together with a lo miles one of the same type for lo down time and quick results

tokyohiker · 01-08-2005, 05:14 PM

Sounds like it's your hg alright (don't know what the "b" is but "hg" is "head gasket). Anybody else here know if it's worth trying to fix the engine he has? Like you said, kudos to 'Yota for making an engine that'll go 233,000 and still run with a bad hg and coolant in the oil.

4Runner Imposter

fredk · 01-08-2005, 05:23 PM

you answered your own question, the b stands for bad

tokyohiker · 01-09-2005, 07:37 AM

Hey, I'm a friend of jawhie, and he told me he's not burning oil and the engine seems to run fine despite white crap inside the oil cap and the persistent oil leak.

With very limited funds, what would you all recommend: trying to save his 5S-FE, or retiring it in favor of something younger and prettier?

I don't know anything about Celicas, but I just had a burnt valve on a 4Runner fixed. When I did that, I had both the heads pulled, had *all* the valves adjusted, all new seals put in, and got a new timing belt, water pump and bearings put in at the same time. It all cost me about a grand, but my engine was in great condition when we tore it down, and it should easily go another 100,000 now without worries.

You think the above stuff would be about the same for jawhie's Celica?

lcarocha · 01-09-2005, 10:09 AM

Who ever told you that changing the seals would cost and arm and a leg is a big fat liar, I've had almost all the seals replaced (west side seals) on mine and I didn't have to pay much for. The east side seals are another thing since you would have to drop the tranny and probably the engine. The seals themselves are pretty cheap, even Toyota OEM ones.

As for gear cruching when shifting fast... welcome to one of the Celica most common problems: Worn synchros. You can live with it, you would only have to learn how fast you can shift before making the synchros crunch, there is only one way to fix this and it's getting new synchros, don't waste your money on a used gearbox since those will be worn too and the problem may come to haunt you later, best to get over it by replacing the worn ones.

logan x · 01-09-2005, 11:27 AM

sup the white film in the cap is normal if the car sits for a little while, the eng sweats and water does find its way into the oil , and when you run the car it evaporates out,is the dip stick show white to? on the oil leak, i have 4 toyota's and some use oil, some leak. that is part of life the valve guides are rubber so they wear after the miles come on. have you tryed a heaver oil to combat the problem? i have been useing val max life and over time it have helped reduce the oil leak and ghost smoke. if it was me i would not worry about it and drive it till it blows up ( but thats me). hope i helped.

Deep · 01-09-2005, 11:38 AM

The worst seals are the crank, cam and valve cover seals and gaskets. Its not a very expensive job and not all that hard if you've got some hand tools and time. The syncros in 90-91 are softer than later models so they do wear out. If your major concern is just getting from point a to point b, then replace the seals (might as well do the timing belt since it has to come out) and refill your tranny with some Penzoil synthetic gear oil. You should get away with spending less than $100.

tokyohiker · 01-09-2005, 06:54 PM

Many Qs:
If the HG is bad too, shouldn't that be done along with all the seals and timing belt?
Is there some other test jawhie can do to find out if the HG is in fact bad?
Should the water pump and bearings get replaced along with the timing belt? (I know this is true for the 3VZ-E engine on my truck)
If he decides to pull the head, should jawhie get the valves adjusted too while it's off?
By "east side" I guess you mean the rear crank seal(s)? Which side of the car is that on (in North America)? Is the "west side" the side by the timing belt?

4Runner Noobie Imposter inda House of Celica!

lcarocha · 01-10-2005, 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tokyohiker

By "east side" I guess you mean the rear crank seal(s)? Which side of the car is that on (in North America)? Is the "west side" the side by the timing belt?

4Runner Noobie Imposter inda House of Celica!

All FWD Celica engines are placed on a west-east position, that is "front" of the engine to the left or "west" and the "rear" of the engine witch mates up to the tranny to the right; so yes, West: Timing Belt side. East: Crank/Flywheel side