I cannot seem to stop all the leaks. Head gasket seals, oil pan, cv boots, power steering, radiator, etc. I fix one leak and the next day discover there's another one. Usually engine oil. I just fixed the oil pan gasket leak and discovered oil on my garage floor again this morning. I can't distinguish the source of this one. Looks like it's coming from behind the timing cover.

But my question is, is it kind of dumb to expect no leaking anything anywhere ever past 250k? I feel at this point like I need to accept that I'm gonna have to live with oil leaks for the rest of this car's life. What is the frequency of leaks in your trucks, guys also over 250k miles?

Thanks much.

Its not dumb to expect a car that doesn’t leak at 250k, but you should expect these problems on any 20+ yo vehicle.

If what you fixed is already leaking then that is wrong, but usually when you fix a leak it allows you to find another

It’s not out of the ordinary to have leaks since these cars are getting up there in age. I just passed 365k and have no leaks whatsoever though I’m sure I just jinxed it. I did buy it at 278k with a blown head gasket however, these things are 20+ years old at this point so seals and gaskets are gonna be near the end of their life.


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I'm at 225k mi only leak I have is valve covers on 01, 96red was at 374k no leaks when totaled.
Normal maint items on both TB assoc seals, VC seals axle seals CV boots
It a trade off spend some here and there to refresh stuff or spend every month what refresh stuff
cost every month on car note.

Most leaks are simple to fix, the problem is there’s usually a handful of them.

My ‘02 is at 264k miles and has a leaking power steering pump, steering rack, valve covers, oil pan and I’m sure a few other things.

When I do my 270k mile maintenance (timing belt, water pump, all fluids, etc) I’m going to pull everything apart and fix every single leak. That’s really the only way to fix it; do it all at once.

The half-moons & cam plugs need to be done at the same time as the valve cover gaskets, especially with what you've got to go through to do the drivers side.
In addition to the right sealant in the right places, I also use Permatex High Tack Spray-a-gasket on valve cover gaskets. Spray it onto the gasket itself - head mating surface side. Don't over-torque the bolts.

When you say leak, is it just a little messy in the engine bay or are you leaving puddles on the driveway?

If it's just a messy engine let it be. Some call it rust protectant. These are 25 year old rubber seals and gaskets, yes you will have more leaks. But unless you find yourself making a mess on the driveway or having to add engine oil in between oil changes let it be and drive happy.

By the way, is this how the front driveshaft connection is supposed to look? Wondering about the metal piece just sticking out there. Thanks.

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If your asking about grease zerk no that is not normal on 4Runners that is after market U joint. That type has caused vibration problems when I've used them. toyota u joints have zerk fitting in the center of spider look at the others you'll see what I mean.

Well look at it this way, once you repair everything that's leaking, that should be it until said seals or whatever wear out again.

For example, if you replaced the rear axle seals, they're not just going to instantly start leaking again because the whole truck is old lol

Another thing to keep in mind is it takes time for oil, and other fluids to stop dripping. For example, when I bought mine the guy said the valve covers had been leaking for 5 years. Everything was caked with oil and build up. I immediately did the valve cover job and it took probably 6 months for it to stop dripping. This was due to the excessive build up which would continue to run down with each heat/cool cycle of the engine.

Yes on a two decade old vehicle with a quarter of a million miles it's not abnormal to see it leaking. You didn't mention what engine you're running, but I am going to assume it's the V6.

The 5VZ-FE is a solid engine, but they also tend to be a bit leaky over time, particularly if you don't reseal them properly, which I have seen a lot of times. I would need to see pictures of your vehicle at least to get a rough idea of what you're working with, but based on my experience and what I have seen on a regular basis for 3rd gens I'd say that you're probably going to want to inspect/replace/reseal the following items:

-Cam & Crank Seals (common to see them seeping/leaking at this time/mileage)

-Valve Cover Gaskets (when replacing these you need to clean & reseal the aluminum half moons with FIPG, and replace the rubber cam plugs on the back; DO NOT put FIPG on the rubber seals, they tend to leak if you do that and I see it done incorrectly all the time; do torque everything properly, particularly when you replace the valve cover bolt grommets. Torque it in a criss-cross pattern and in stages rechecking the torque, you'd be surprised how often one or two passes isn't enough to equally seal the cover.)

-Rear Main Seal (while you're in there, do reseal the rear main seal retaining plate and scrub the crankshaft clean of caked on oil deposits)

-Oil Pan (I know you said you did it, but just double check it, a rear main seal can look like the back edge of the pan so just verify it's not the pan)

-Oil Cooler Gasket (the oil cooler along the backside of the engine on the driver's side can sometime seep oil from the gasket)

-Oil Filter post (not super common, but I have run into a few 5VZ-FEs where the center post on the oil filter mount gets a little loose so the filter doesn't fully seal itself, just snug it up if it's loose)

-Power Steering Pump (I am not sure if you can still buy the reseal kits for these, but they aren't too bad to rebuild.)

That's an aftermarket U-Joint, so the position of the zerk fitting is normal for that. Toyota tends to tuck their zerk fittings on serviceable u-joints in the middle on the "smaller" drive shafts (the 2nd gen Tundra, Sequoia, and LC200's have them on the edge like that).

just did a walk around last week when I had my 96 on our shops lift, found out one of my axles is leaking, so that needs to be replaced. but overall, only things I could see is a very minor oil pan leak and passenger axle is saturated with oil but not actually dripping.

Personally I'm a little excited about the axles? lol , only because they look like they're either oem or just super old. Doesn't seem like the first two owners really changed out much and if they did, used all Toyota parts.

320k miles and still running strong, but like everyone else said. Leaks, dried up bushings, and crap like that are just to be expected.

I am going through his right now too. I just did the full valve cover job and now water pump is leaking. I am still chasing a small oil leak but at least it doesn't actually smell like burning oil every time I drive it like it did before the valve covers were done.

It's a process.

Meh, just fix it. Still cheaper than a payment. Most cars don’t last long enough to get lots of leaks like these do.

The valve cover setup is kinda dumb. The yota engineers need to take a field trip to Cummins in Indiana to learn how to do valve covers. Using a single part number head though in the 5vz, it’s sort of unavoidable.

But other than that, I have to give Toyota very high marks on these cars.

Do like Tim and everyone else says though, wrap the wire loom in the engine valley when doing the covers. Man that makes one hell of a mess when they crumble. I did all new half moons also just to make life easier. Do the cam seals with the covers off. It’s 2 minutes job while there.

The oil cooler is easy. It’s like 9$ worth of gaskets an a big socket with some extensions and swivel adapter. Tail shaft out is always easy. Pinions are a little harder. Axles are what they are. Most diff leaks are due clogged breathers or bad bearings.

The rest is just maintenance. If you hate maintenance, then I don’t know what to tell you. Get a payment on a new one and be friends with the service department I guess.