Advice on Oil leak

[kishanSR5]

Took the 4runner to have lunch with my little bro at school today and my dad texts me that the 4runner is leaking oil because there was a giant spot on the ground where I was parked. I go home and look at it, smell it and sure enough its motor oil... Then I proceed to look in the engine bay, can't see any leakage anywhere. I look at the oil pan/drain plug and I see this.....

Now it seems obvious to me that the oil pan gasket is leaking as well as the drain plug. Funny enough, 2 weeks ago I seafoamed the 4runner and changed the oil/filled it with royal purple. I also replaced the drain plug gasket but this one was smaller in diameter but the parts guy assured me it would work. Also I am supposed to head back to college station this sunday for next semester so any work that needs to be done, I'll have to get it done tomorrow, so should I just go ahead and replace the oil pan gasket and drain plug gaskets? I know the oil pan gasket is supposed to be a RTV type sealant however I feel more comfortable with a cork gasket, local autozone has a felpro and I feel like that should do the job just fine. Advice?

 

[fourwd1]

A cork gasket will be fine, you could even put a very thin coat of RTV on each side of it.

 

[kishanSR5]

A cork gasket will be fine, you could even put a very thin coat of RTV on each side of it.

Ok sounds good to me. I'll knock this out this afternoon so I have a day buffer in case anything goes wrong. Thanks!

 

[Justin727]

Better yet goto toyota and get 2 tubes of Black FIPG (form in place gasket)

Better then the RTV that you can get in the stores.


BUT I must say after owning Toyota's for several years and resealing pans with either or I've never encountered an oil leak again where ever it was used/needed. 4runner has well over 200k without oil pan leaking and my Supra which I spare no expense on was resealed after pulling the engine out for a refresher is not leaking.

 

[kishanSR5]

Better yet goto toyota and get 2 tubes of Black FIPG (form in place gasket)

Better then the RTV that you can get in the stores.


BUT I must say after owning Toyota's for several years and resealing pans with either or I've never encountered an oil leak again where ever it was used/needed. 4runner has well over 200k without oil pan leaking and my Supra which I spare no expense on was resealed after pulling the engine out for a refresher is not leaking.

Yeah I'm also kind of perplexed as to why it happened now, but based on the picture that's what it looks like right? I read somewhere that it could be due to the oil cooler lines? However there wasn't a picture to show where those lines go.

 

[LittleCaesar]

Make sure the old filter's gasket is still not on the block causing a leak with the new filter.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Another thing is if the oil filter is a bit loose and you KNOW you tightened it, I'd get a 12mm Allen socket and snug/tighten down the oil filter post as they apparently get a bit loose on the 5VZ-FEs as they age/get high in the mileage. Just ran into this with our V6 Tundra Parts truck at work.

 

[kishanSR5]

Make sure the old filter's gasket is still not on the block causing a leak with the new filter.

It was actually caused by a loose oil filter. I did tighten it hand tight when I changed the oil but I guess it loosened up. So this time I tightened it pretty damn good with my hand and I'll go back and check it with a filter wrench tomorrow. The drain plug gasket is leaking as well but I already have the fix for that. Note to self and all others: only use OEM oil drain plug gaskets.

 

[kishanSR5]

Better yet goto toyota and get 2 tubes of Black FIPG (form in place gasket)

Better then the RTV that you can get in the stores.


BUT I must say after owning Toyota's for several years and resealing pans with either or I've never encountered an oil leak again where ever it was used/needed. 4runner has well over 200k without oil pan leaking and my Supra which I spare no expense on was resealed after pulling the engine out for a refresher is not leaking.

Yea it wasn't the oil pan after all, it was a loose oil filter. Go figure haha

 

[kishanSR5]

Another thing is if the oil filter is a bit loose and you KNOW you tightened it, I'd get a 12mm Allen socket and snug/tighten down the oil filter post as they apparently get a bit loose on the 5VZ-FEs as they age/get high in the mileage. Just ran into this with our V6 Tundra Parts truck at work.

Loose oil filter was what was causing the leak. I'll check the post on the next oil change. Thanks for the help!

 

[Justin727]

Loose oil filter was what was causing the leak. I'll check the post on the next oil change. Thanks for the help!

Glad you got it fixed!!! I just had to replace the oil cooler Orings on mine yesterday evening. Other than that no oil leaks :beer:

 

[kishanSR5]

Glad you got it fixed!!! I just had to replace the oil cooler Orings on mine yesterday evening. Other than that no oil leaks :beer:

Yeah I'm glad I fixed it too. I head back to college station tomorrow morning so I wanted to make sure I made it there with no problems. These trucks are like tanks though. So I'm sure I still would have made it lol.