I’m staying with stock gearing and 265/70R17’s for a while. Fixing my house is my main priority for the foreseeable future. I’ve got something in the works to hopefully rectify the situation.That's how it goes sometimes with Mod's now you know. Hwy mpg's are nice, you going 33's or 35's.
Doubt you have a problem flipping it if you choose.
Bad Luck's Boring Build Biography
- Thread starter Bad Luck
- Start date
96RedRunner
Senior Member
I feel for you fixing-up a house in this market daammn. Was fortunate in finishing my project now in 20.
I’ve been chasing oil leaks since I bought this 4Runner at the end of 2021. I’ve done valve cover gaskets/half moons/cam plugs, replaced the rear main seal during a transmission/flywheel/clutch replacement, and resealed the oil pan. Thoroughly cleaned the engine after each repair, but the oil leak persists. I finally had some time to do another thorough engine degreasing and added oil dye to make sure if I missed anything during clean up that a new leak would be more obvious.
Anyways, I’ve finally narrowed down the location of my engine oil leak. I’ll attach some photos of it but for context it’s the passenger side of the engine block starting about 1/2” below the mating surface for the cylinder head and about 1” from the rear of the engine. I’m 99 percent sure my engine block is cracked. I can clean it off, start the engine, and watch it get wet with engine oil again.
I used an inspection mirror and borescope and verified it’s not coming from the head gasket or the back of the passenger head or block
Anyways, I’ve finally narrowed down the location of my engine oil leak. I’ll attach some photos of it but for context it’s the passenger side of the engine block starting about 1/2” below the mating surface for the cylinder head and about 1” from the rear of the engine. I’m 99 percent sure my engine block is cracked. I can clean it off, start the engine, and watch it get wet with engine oil again.
I used an inspection mirror and borescope and verified it’s not coming from the head gasket or the back of the passenger head or block
96RedRunner
Senior Member
Good discovery work now you know, I'm sure it not what you wanted to find.
Twisted Sid
Member
A little high heat jb wled and it'll be like new!
That really sucks though.
That really sucks though.
I might give it a shot, but I’ve never had any luck trying to fix cracked blocks. Even tried welding a cracked block on a friend’s Jeep 4.0L one time and it just recracked in the same spot a few months later. It’s just free rust proofing at this point lol I doubt I’ll do anything until it’s time to do a timing belt or head gasket.
Not really what I wanted or thought I would find, but at least I finally found it.
It sure looks that way. I saw a few posts on Tacoma world last night when I was looking for better photos of that side that had cracked 5VZ blocks.
JoeT4R
Senior Member
I'm sorry to hear this bro. So, with you mentioning that you're probably not doing anything until a timing belt job or a head gasket job comes up, do you still plan to daily drive this thing? Also just curious, are you having to add oil in between oil changes? If so, approximately how much would you say?
96RedRunner
Senior Member
I'm with [MENTION=130022]Twisted Sid[/MENTION] was first thought, add if possible dental burr to crack V it out.
This worst case scenario for cast iron repair.
This worst case scenario for cast iron repair.
I change my oil every 4000 miles, and check the level every 1000 miles. I’m assuming that it’s been cracked my entire ownership, and I’ve never had to add oil between oil changes. I’m going to keep driving until either the timing belt/head gasket/head needs repair or the oil leak gets worse. I’d say it’s only about 3/4 quart of oil lost every 4000 miles, but the thing with oil leaks is 1 quart of oil can cause a huge mess. I’m really living up to my name here lately. Just some really bad luck lately.
96RedRunner
Senior Member
The issue is you have to get it glowing red hot before hand..
Add maintaining that heat through laying of beads, rate of cooling, stress relief peening, matching nickel content.
Cast Iron sucks
96RedRunner
Senior Member
Probably a bad Monday or Friday for person measuring n mixing cast iron ingredients
JoeT4R
Senior Member
Interesting. That's not horrible, but it would be nice if no oil was lost of course. You think you'd consider a JDM engine for a replacement? Would you be up for the task of that? Or are you not even there yet mentally?
brillo_76
Elite Member
That's what I expect happened. The transfer case damage possibly caused this. As i never heard of cast iron block failing on a Toyota that didn't suck in water or have a major injury.
Sent from my SM-A536V using Tapatalk
When the transfer case exploded it cracked the transmission (no surprise there). It also cracked a mounting boss off the engine so I’m not surprised the block cracked.
Last edited:
6/24/2023 213406 miles
-Replaced transmission with another new OEM transmission with original 5th gear ratio
-Applied QuikSteel to engine block crack while transmission was out
I decided to go back to the original 5th gear ratio due to reduced drivability. While the new 5th gear ratio was great for interstate/highway cruising rpm's (65-85 mph) it was pretty much unusable if I had even an empty trailer at those speeds.
Applied QuikSteel to the leaking engine block crack while the transmission was out. I originally planned on removing the passenger exhaust manifold to get to it and purchased the necessary gaskets, but after removing the transmission (and starter) I was able to blindly prep the are with the help of a right angle die grinder, burr bit, lots of sandpaper, and a spotter mirror. QuikSteel was highly recommended by the internet (lol) for repairing cracked engine blocks. It was not easy to work with. After mixing it was the equivalent of brake shavings mixed in a thin epoxy. It didn't want to stick to the block and preferred to stay on my glove during application. I kept working with it and thankfully it started to thicken up and somewhat cooperate with me enough to get a thin layer over the crack. I've checked on it a couple times in the last 30 miles and haven't seen any oil residue so hopefully it stays that way. *knocks on wood*
-Replaced transmission with another new OEM transmission with original 5th gear ratio
-Applied QuikSteel to engine block crack while transmission was out
I decided to go back to the original 5th gear ratio due to reduced drivability. While the new 5th gear ratio was great for interstate/highway cruising rpm's (65-85 mph) it was pretty much unusable if I had even an empty trailer at those speeds.
Applied QuikSteel to the leaking engine block crack while the transmission was out. I originally planned on removing the passenger exhaust manifold to get to it and purchased the necessary gaskets, but after removing the transmission (and starter) I was able to blindly prep the are with the help of a right angle die grinder, burr bit, lots of sandpaper, and a spotter mirror. QuikSteel was highly recommended by the internet (lol) for repairing cracked engine blocks. It was not easy to work with. After mixing it was the equivalent of brake shavings mixed in a thin epoxy. It didn't want to stick to the block and preferred to stay on my glove during application. I kept working with it and thankfully it started to thicken up and somewhat cooperate with me enough to get a thin layer over the crack. I've checked on it a couple times in the last 30 miles and haven't seen any oil residue so hopefully it stays that way. *knocks on wood*
I hope it stays repaired.
My VCG are puking oil all over the area. What's the most effective cleaning agent for the oil stains since you went through this already, purple power?
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