HELP Needed - Mysterious Oil Leak

[Dylan]

I got into my car an hour ago and the red oil light was on. I just did an oil/filter change this weekend with Mobil 1 5W-30 7 quarts and a Toyota filter. I torqued the bolt to 30ft/lbs, it's snug, and I hand tightened the filter. However today there was an oil stain on the cement. I pulled the front skid to check the oil filter, it's on there good. I cant figure out where the heck this is coming from. The top part of the engine all looks dry, down below the CVs and cross members all have a coat of oil. Any Ideas? This is great timing as I'm about to head to Colorado on Saturday. Any insight is much appreciated...I'm trying not to freak the hell out! Here's some pics...

1.) is from the front looking head on to where the skid plate would be, oil filter in the top right.
2.) is from standing by the driver side wheel looking down into the engine bay.
3.) is from under the engine bay where the skid would be looking up towards the filter.
4.) is from under the engine bay, close up near the filter.
5.) is looking down towards the filter.

 

[ebg18t]

Could the o-ring from the old filter still be on there?

 

[Dylan]

Could the o-ring from the old filter still be on there?

Now that you mention it, that could be the case. I was doing my brakes when I changed the oil and didn't think to check if the Microguard o-ring came off. The thing is the filter itself doesnt have much oil on it. I just hand tightened the filter, and it was pretty snug. Should it be much tighter than hand tightened? Also, the oil filter light wont go on for things like the front diff, will it? I changed that a while ago, but the oil is all around the lower 1/3 of the engine bay, the top 2/3 is pretty dry, save for the area near the fan where it blew some oil around.

To set my mind at ease, there's not any other issue that would cause a bunch of oil to fling around the engine bay in the vicinity of the oil filter is there?

It's dark out now, so I'll have to check it tomorrow. Gonna have to ride my bike to work which will be awesome.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Its double gasketed, look at the picture closely; you can see the old rubber square cut o-ring between the rolled edge of the Toyota filter and the oil filter pedestal.

 

[Dylan]

Its double gasketed, look at the picture closely; you can see the old rubber square cut o-ring between the rolled edge of the Toyota filter and the oil filter pedestal.

Thanks for the insight. I know what you're saying now, but is that it in the picture, or is it the metal lip on the bottom of the filter? I'll pull it off tomorrow to check for sure, and you guys are probably right. But here's the same filter unused and the lip at the bottom is all that I see in that picture.

 

[RedSled]

Its double gasketed, look at the picture closely; you can see the old rubber square cut o-ring between the rolled edge of the Toyota filter and the oil filter pedestal.

Yep, i see it. If he wants to be positive he can put a couple quarts of oil in and crank it up, watch it spew all over. :repuke:

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Your picture is a bit blurry but if you look at the other pictures you posted with a fresh Toyota Oil Filter, you can see that the rolled metal lip of the filter is exactly at the end. While if you look at the notations I made on your original picture you will see there is a black rectangle between the rolled metal lip and the oil filter pedestal.

When the filter is installed correctly that lip is flat against the oil filter pedestal with no space in between like your picture shows right now.

 

[Dylan]

Yep, i see it. If he wants to be positive he can put a couple quarts of oil in and crank it up, watch it spew all over. :repuke:

It's all making sense. I did gun it this morning on the way to work to get around this jackass in a 350z who was going all tokyo drift. That's probably what made the Runner projectile vomit in the engine bay. I bet when I get to work tomorrow there will be an oil slick there too. I'll report back when it's settled. :usa2:

 

[Dylan]

Also, I know it's never a good idea to power wash the interior of our Toyotas, but would it be risky to power wash the front area with that skid plate off, to get some of that oil removed?

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Also, I know it's never a good idea to power wash the interior of our Toyotas, but would it be risky to power wash the front area with that skid plate off, to get some of that oil removed?

Na, you're good; I do that at work to clean the engine bay every now and then.

 

[preacher35]

Also, I know it's never a good idea to power wash the interior of our Toyotas, but would it be risky to power wash the front area with that skid plate off, to get some of that oil removed?

Haha! Lol... I remember that guy. He disappeared, didn't he?

 

[Dylan]

So do you guys think I should just completely drain what's left, since I'm going to have to pull off the filter off and oil will probably spill out? The Mobil 1 oil thats left in there is only 4 days old.

If I had to guess, it's lost about 2 quarts of oil. There's no way to really know though, and if I "top it off" I wont know exactly how much is in there.

 

[Atlanta_man]

dipstick

 

[NOVA46]

Na, you're good; I do that at work to clean the engine bay every now and then.

Wait pressure wash the engine compartment? the whole thing or just the underside of the engine? If so, i've been wasting a lot of money on shop towels and windex

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Wait pressure wash the engine compartment? the whole thing or just the underside of the engine? If so, i've been wasting a lot of money on shop towels and windex

Eh, I would try not to hit the pulleys (most seem to be unsealed) and wiring harness (the connectors are weather-proof, not water proof) too hard. But we have a pressure nozzle on a pretty big hose at the detail section of our shop and I've hit the engine bay with degreaser and the hose a few times without too much trouble. Which is basically what our detail shop does all day long.

Though as I mentioned try not to flood the engine bay or at least let it dry out, we've had older vehicles start running funny because water shorts out stuff; typically it goes away when it dries up.

 

[Dylan]

No I just hit the front part behind where the skid goes near the rack and pinion and nearby parts. It looked like the front lower end went oil wrestling. Nothing too serious, it was just the hose at the manual car wash. I didn't open the hood and go buck wild like ol boy did with the interior of his car in that other thread which caused everything to go haywire, haha.

Also, you guys were spot on. The old oil filter o-ring was the culprit, and thankfully this happened before I hit the road on a 700 mile drive to Denver tomorrow, yeesh. Got the filter back on, used the filter wrench to secure it well. Drained the oil and put in 7 more quarts of Mobil 1, another $40...but better than $4000 on a new engine or whatever might have happened.

Here's the little bugger below. Hopefully this thread saves someone from the same headache I had.

 

[NOVA46]

Eh, I would try not to hit the pulleys (most seem to be unsealed) and wiring harness (the connectors are weather-proof, not water proof) too hard. But we have a pressure nozzle on a pretty big hose at the detail section of our shop and I've hit the engine bay with degreaser and the hose a few times without too much trouble. Which is basically what our detail shop does all day long.

Though as I mentioned try not to flood the engine bay or at least let it dry out, we've had older vehicles start running funny because water shorts out stuff; typically it goes away when it dries up.

Probably nothing a few strategically placed trash bags can't solve, thanks for the input!

 

[Veritas]

I just rinsed out the inside of my engine bay with a garden hose and spray nozzle 2 weekends ago . I washed it from the top and bottom(with skid plates removed) and just avoided hitting the pulleys on the front. I just waited until it dried before I fired it up, no issues at all.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Probably nothing a few strategically placed trash bags can't solve, thanks for the input!

You don't have to go that far, just hose out the engine bay. You just don't wanna like sit there with the hose for 20 minutes on the highest pressure on the pulleys and wiring is all.

If you get degreaser in a spray bottle that helps a ton. Just spray, let it sit a bit and then hose it down.

 

[Velonici]

No I just hit the front part behind where the skid goes near the rack and pinion and nearby parts. It looked like the front lower end went oil wrestling. Nothing too serious, it was just the hose at the manual car wash. I didn't open the hood and go buck wild like ol boy did with the interior of his car in that other thread which caused everything to go haywire, haha.

Also, you guys were spot on. The old oil filter o-ring was the culprit, and thankfully this happened before I hit the road on a 700 mile drive to Denver tomorrow, yeesh. Got the filter back on, used the filter wrench to secure it well. Drained the oil and put in 7 more quarts of Mobil 1, another $40...but better than $4000 on a new engine or whatever might have happened.

Here's the little bugger below. Hopefully this thread saves someone from the same headache I had.

I hope you don't mean you used a wrench to put it on. If you did good luck getting that thing off later. Usually for the filters its when they touch (ie stop spinning freely) and 1 more turn. That's all it needs. Also you could have just filled up what went out instead of draining all the good stuff out (unless it all was already out).