Pinpointing a leak

[Geolander]

1995 Manual 4WD

I have an oil leak dripping off the front of the transmission bell housing. Any guesses as to where that's coming from?

There's also a red-orange fluid splattered around the engine compartment. It has no discernible small and tastes bitter. Any idea what it might be? Coolant perhaps? I checked, and it's pretty low.

 

[crazy gringo]

could be from the valve cover gaskets, rear intake manifold or even the rear min seal. if you can look with a flash light at the back side near the firewall and see if there is oil leaking from there if not crawl under and take a look through the inspection cover on the bell housing and see if it`s leaking inside of there.

 

[Geolander]

Red-orange stuff:

Possible source? There's some red crusty bits around the end of this vacuum hose. It goes into the firewall near the top of the dash, right in the middle.

Oil drip location:

The oil filter was loose - I must not have tightened it quite enough when I did an oil change a couple weeks ago and I guess it slowly worked its way looser, but tightening it doesn't seem to have stopped the drip completely. Could be the oil pan gasket?

 

[Footofgod]

Rear main seal would be my first guess, but get under it, clean it up, THEN determine where the leak is coming from. You might be surprised.

 

[Geolander]

Yeah, working on cleaning it up now. It's kind of a disaster though - I think it had a minor oil leak before I got it, so most of the parts down there are caked in an oil/dirt mess. The drip does seem to have slowed/stopped now though. Gonna head to the parts store for a quart of oil and some fresh antifreeze and see if it leaks at all.

 

[Geolander]

Ok, got most of the area around the drip location cleaned. It's still dripping, though more slowly (I think). Only oily area is right where the drip is forming (on the bell housing; see my 3rd pic from earlier). Can't find a trail leading from anywhere. No oil on the firewall.

Edit: Gonna let it sit overnight and see if it's just residual oil that was trapped in all the crud on the undercarriage or if it's something else leaking. It made a pretty big oil patch on the driveway in less than 24 hours (yesterday evening to this morning), so it should be pretty easy to tell if the leak is continuing.

 

[Steven94]

Hopefully it isn't your rear main seal. I just had mine replaced and it was quite a job to put it all back together again. Good luck with figuring it out.

 

[ToyoTech]

you really need to go pressure wash your entire engine front top to bottom. get all the oil and gunk off. drive it and check it daily till you see where its leaking from.

i wouldnt be surprised if its from : valve cover gasket, cam and crank seal, rear main seal. maybe oil pan but its not likely unless its been messed with before and wrong stuff was used.


the stuff on the hood doesnt match the coolant. i would clean that off and see if it returns

 

[Geolander]

Morning update: no oil spots on the cardboard, slight film of oil in the drip location. Seems like there still might be a slow seep somewhere, but it's no longer gushing like it did over the weekend. I'll probably pressure wash it this weekend and see if I can pinpoint it further. My money's on the rear main seal or the oil pan gasket because I can't find any oily crap above the gasket and the bell housing. Don't think it's the valve cover or the crank seal because I can't find any oil on the engine or in the upper parts of the engine compartment/firewall.

For pressure washing, do you guys normally just use a DIY carwash place?

 

[ToyoTech]

yup, i just hit up one of those coin op pressure washers and go to town on the underside. everything can get wet. make sure you get the side of the engine area too. turn the wheels if you have to. clean it up the best you can.

im gonna guess rear main seal than since you said you dont see any oil near the front or valve covers

 

[Geolander]

Ok, seems to be the rear main seal. Can't be certain because of splash from driving, but I still can't find any oil around the valve covers or any fresh stuff in the front. There used to be a bunch of old oil along the side of the oil pan under the oil filter, but I think that was a combination of splash and spillage from oil changes. Talked to my mechanic and he said it would probably be $500-$600 to drop the transmission and that he didn't recommend the leak stopper stuff because it tends to stop the leak for a while, then let go completely or just not work at all. It's not really leaking much (a drop or so per day at most) and the oil loss is negligible, so I'm just going to leave it for now.

I'm actually reasonably certain that this is the same oil leak it had when I got it. When I had it checked out, the mechanic said there was a slight leak, but that it wasn't dangerous and I should just keep an eye on the oil to be on the safe side. I never noticed it (and I never noticed any appreciable change in the oil level), probably because it was getting soaked up by all the crap under there, so I just assumed it had fixed itself, but now that I cleaned it off, I guess it became noticeable again.

 

[KidVermicious]

The leak stopper can also get into places you don't want it.

I've known oil leaks that stayed negligible for years to suddenly get very bad very fast. I'd drop the trans and fix it. It'll be good for you. Builds character. Puts hair on your chest.

 

[Geolander]

The leak stopper can also get into places you don't want it.

I've known oil leaks that stayed negligible for years to suddenly get very bad very fast. I'd drop the trans and fix it. It'll be good for you. Builds character. Puts hair on your chest.

While I am fairly mechanically inclined, I don't think I'll be doing this. I don't have the proper jack to handle it and I can't really afford one right now either. Not to mention that my driveway is on a ~20 degree slope and there's no room in the garage to stash the tranny once it's out, so I can't work there.

 

[Jdrum1]

How about trying a high mileage oil (I use Castrol GTX High Mileage)?

They won't work any miracles, but may slow it down enough to get you by for a while.