Well these are right behind the crankshaft pulley. You can see them with everything off for a timing belt change. I do believe you have to pull the oil pan as well to service them. On these engines they are external cover.

When I pull my oil pan off I take some photos. As mine in all 3 timing belt changes you can see the pump plate. As it's right behind the crankshaft seal.

I have never had a v6 oil pump off yet so that's all the more I know at this time.

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I didn't see a leak the first 2 drives after I added the dye but then it started (and continued) to rain in Sacramento for the first time in maybe over a year. By the time it stopped raining the dye was everywhere. Wish I would've hiked up my skirt and checked it in the rain.

I'm a bit nervous about getting in the engine bay with the diy car wash wand but I guess at this point, like Obi Wan Kenobi, it's my only hope.

I am also tracing an oil leak exactly the same location. I find it is more oil when you fill the oil to the max mark. After watching this thread, I replaced the dipstick oil seal, Notice how the wire harness is squeezed between the dipstick tube and coolant inlet? I moved the wiring to the other side of the dip-stick tube. I cleaned the area and is monitoring any fresh oil.

I replaced the crank oil seal with OEM seal back in 2010 when I lived in Reno. I do not think it is the crank oil sea. Inspected the belt and it is dry as a bone. Even after 11 years and 45K miles the OEM belt is like brand new!

I also got the alternator brushes done at the same time. I am at 216K miles and alternator brushes are in their last 5% of life.

I saw no oil behind the timing belt cover but the lower left cover bolt was oily.

I cleaned things up best I could with some Dawn and a toothbrush and rinsed it clean.



After a 1 mile drive I think I now see where it's coming from. With my seriously limited knowledge, would I be correct in thinking crank seal?



For what it's worth, the work I had done 7 months ago included:

Timing belt
Water pump
Thermostat
Belts and radiator hoses
Valve cover gaskets
Spark plug seals/grommets
Crank seal
Cam seals

I had no clue what he was talking about at the time but I remember him asking if the half moons needed to be done. I replied "You're the expert, you tell me". He said they "looked fine" and didn't touch them.

Lower left bolt on which part? The top cover? Middle section or the crankshaft cover?

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I know when I do the valve covers I redo the half moons.

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Lower bolt on the timing belt cover, driver side. Inside the timing belt cover was oil-free as were the other bolts.

If I knew then what I know now!. Before that I'd only changed oil and spark plugs myself.

So the top cover... As oil can't go uphill. That's really sounding like either the camshaft seal on that side , valve cover or half moon on the driver side.

The bottom cover could be crank or oil pump seal.

The middle would be water pump and that's antifreeze not oil.

3 have covers on the timing belt. Top plastic covers camshafts. Middle aluminum covers water pump and has the fan clutch bearing on it. Bottom plastic covers crankshaft pulley and oil pump.

Hope this helps.

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I only touched cover 1 - with 4 bolts on top, 2 on the sides a bit lower - the cover where the upper radiator hose connects. Was just checking to see if there was any oil behind it. The lower left/driver side bolt was only slightly oily - I assumed from the oil on the outside of the cover

I guess I need to start early, pull off whatever I need to so I can tighten the VC bolts I wasn't able to get to and see what happens. But if I get to the point where I can tighten all the VC bolts maybe I should just do the half moons and replace the VC gaskets again. Just need to psych myself up enough to get started. I rather do LBJs four times than start tearing apart my engine!

I can't really tell from the photos, but what is the highest point of the oil dye?

From what I can see without taking things apart, the highest sign of dye is here sort of above the water inlet. Makes me think tightening those interior driver side valve cover bolts might help. About how long should it take to access the left-side valve cover bolts? I've read as little as 10 minutes but I'm certainly not at that level. I assume getting in there would also reveal more. But it seems like a good place to start. I hate being a pansy about this.



And the more I think about it, the more this bothers me. Part of my brain is telling me to just redo the damn timing belt job. But it's been running fine and I don't want to make more work for myself.

To get to those valve cover bolts you'll need to take off the upper intake manifolds. Here's mtbtim's youtube video on how to do valve cover gaskets which will show you how to get to where you need to be to tighten all the valve cover bolts: https://www.toyota-4runner.org/2323344-post4.html

Yep, I've seen Tim's videos; love 'em all. I was just curious about an average time to get that stuff removed. Turns out for me it was 30 minutes and I go slow. I really need to start wearing pants so I don't have to hike up my skirt to tackle these projects. Like Tim says - it's not rocket science!

Now I'm clear on the timing belt covers. I assumed the first one to come off, covering the camshafts, was no. 1 but I guess it's no. 2.

Anyway, I had to tighten the VC bolts a bit to get to 53 in/lbs but there was no sign of leaking anyway.

I just went out again, at night, and checked for dye. Nothing around the valve covers, front or back. No dye by the oil filter or cooler. I previously saw no oil behind the no. 2 timing belt cover. It really looks like it's only coming from somewhere behind the crank pulley. But if the crank or oil pump seals were leaking, wouldn't there be oil on the timing belt that I'd see behind the top cover?

I just watched Tim's timing belt video again and now realize that the cam seals are behind that backing plate so it's entirely possible the left seal is leaking and I just didn't see it. Guess I'm preparing for a timing belt job. Just bought the crank and cam pulley holder tools and will order the seals in the morning. Or do I just order aircabinman and replace everything since the guy used a Duralast kit to begin with? If it were June that wouldn't even be a question.