If these are minor and annoying (not major) they can be rather hard to diagnose ... certainly consider gravity, and cleaning; these will help by showing the highest point of leakage; they are really good points ... depending upon the general state of dirt/oil, cleaning the entire engine may be a good starting point ... but if not covered with crud, spot cleaning with brake clean could be effective ... also consider oil loss per mile; ie, how long does it take to loose a quart ... it may be an area that leaks when the engine is running, but only drips in the driveway when the engine is off ... on more difficult leaks, I have used talcum powder (do NOT breath talcum powder, use particle protection) as the oil track through the talcum powder will be obvious ... realize there is no real easy way ... clean, clean; drive a week and check ... if a week is too long and there is too much oil to locate; reclean, drive a couple days and recheck ... there is no magic bullet ...
you could be dealing with multiple leaks and possibly multiple causes ... let's first consider cause, as fixing the leak may only be fixing the symptom, and the leak will find another place to occur ... If you fix leaks and get everything nice and dry and after a short period, develope new leaks, consider what might be the cause ...
could just be old, hard seals and loosening due to age/heat/expansion over years - so find the leak and fix it ... so, if you find the old seal or 'O' ring is hard, brittle or just not flexible, you have probably found the cause ... if it is still plyable, there is most likely another issue that is the cause ...
excess internal pressure ... in this case the engine will find a place to leak until the internal pressure is reduced ... PCV system, not just the valve, but also its cam cover, orifices on both ends and the hose itself, can contribute to internal pressures ... worn rings/cylinder walls allowing excessive piston ring blow-by will cause lots of places to leak ... this is an area to be cautious; I know of leaks from internal pressures that have been fixed until they are all repaired except the rear main seal ... and guess where it will leak then ...
Hard Seals
this would be things like a distributor 'O' ring seal or the oil cooler adapter 'O' ring seal (which are both on the exhaust side)
worn distributor shaft/housing willl allow oil to leak through the distributor (repair kit available through
www.kbox.com) ...
because the engine leans forward, either of the cam covers could end up leaking down the front side; again from aging or excess pressure ...
either of the cam seals or the crankshaft seal could leak and end up on the exhaust side running around on the oil pan (sometimes mis-diagnosed as oil pan leaking), these will also usually cause at least a damp spot at the bottom of the timing belt cover ...however, more often caused by internal pressures ...
fix the cause, not the symptom ...
I hope this gives you some help ... Good Luck
regards ... Ken
Forum for every generation Toyota MR2. Including the AW11 and SW20.
oil leak
Oil Leaks
Linear Mode
