A couple weekends ago me and a friend tackled the valve cover gasket jobs on my 2000 4runner and his 1997 Tacoma. We went the full 9 yards and bought all OEM Parts. Half moons, cam plugs, gaskets, Toyota FIPG, spark plug tube seals. The real timmy the toolman package.

Both of ours had slight leaks before the job and I was hoping to fix this and not have to smell burn oil at red lights anymore. But as fate would have it I drove it around a while and I still smell that oil burning on the exhaust. On top of that I've notice oil is slowly dripping on the garage floor (however i did an oil change the next weekend and suspect I just need a new washer on my drain plug).

Anyways, I'm pretty inexperienced with oil leaks so I wanted to know if yall had any input on how I should go about locating where its leaking. I did some poking around tonight to see whats wet and what not and tried to clean a little but I'm gonna take a closer look at it tomorrow. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

So you are Sure the new job is leaking? (pics please)

I mean it had all kinds of built up oil dripping very slowly for a long time, it will take time for all of that to finish its 'journey' through many areas some on the exhaust and some on the lower engine/trans. Careful if you decide to wash the engine, I'd stick to steam, no cool water. Luck.

Yeah it's possible that I'm smelling residual oil from the initial leak. there is still oil dripping onto the ground but im hoping thats the drain plug.

Two other common, and easy to fix leaks, are the oil dipstick gasket and the oil cooler gasket. The oil dipstick is at the bottom of the tube the dipstick goes into. The oil cooler is the round thing on the left side of the engine slightly behind the oil filter and their is a gasket that seals it to the side of the engine. Neither would drip on the exhaust, but both could drip oil on the floor.

Awesome, Thanks. I'll check those.

Took off the skid plate and looked around. Pretty positive the drip is the plug. It seeps out minutes after wiping it.

Found this strange cardboard/paper piece wedged between the skid plate and frame cross member. Couldn't get attachments to work on the website so heres an imgur link: Weird Piece - Album on Imgur

Cu

Well if oil is newish, try tightening or new gasket. May want to get one of these, with a hose attached (tuck it up when not in use) it sure makes oil changes far less messy and you don't have to remove skid pan to avoid oil drips on it:

Amazon.com: Fumoto Original F103N with LC-10 Lever Clip FN-Series Engine Oil Drain Valve, 1 Pack: Automotive

Cardboard piece is likely there to direct any oil that makes it's way onto the skid plate. Could also be for noise isolation.

Switch back to 10W 30 brand name conventional oil if you are using synthetics.