Cannot figure out where my engine oil is leaking

[gr8white]

I have spent alot of money trying to figure out where my leak is coming from and 3 mechanics just cannot fix it. We replaced the valves and front crank shaft seal. Could it just be burning it and I cant do anything about it? The engine runs great.

[Maineah]

How many miles and how much? Do you see oil on the ground or under the hood?

[gr8white]

80k miles and I do not see oil on the ground. Its hard to tell under the hood if I see any because there is already oil there from all the work I had done. One mechanic cleaned the whole thing and was sure that it was coming through the front crank shaft seal and he was wrong.

[Derek up North]

Get the engine power washed/steam cleaned. Then powder it with baby powder. Any leaks should be easy to spot.

It'll smell nice for a while too.

[gr8white]

Get the engine power washed/steam cleaned. Then powder it with baby powder. Any leaks should be easy to spot.

It'll smell nice for a while too.

R U serious about the baby powder?

[5Toyota]

how heavy of oil are you using heaver oil will slow it if it is from burning it

[gr8white]

10W 40

[waiter]

clean the engine again, Use the baby powder trick, or check with your parts store and see if they have an ultraviolet light you can borrow.. They sell oil with leak detect dye in it, but you need the ultraviolet light to see the dye (Remember the "Black lights").

JOhn Mc

88 Dolphin 4 Auto

[zero]

I have spent alot of money trying to figure out where my leak is coming from and 3 mechanics just cannot fix it. We replaced the valves and front crank shaft seal. Could it just be burning it and I cant do anything about it? The engine runs great.

I've had several Toyota oil-burners that ran perfect, never fouled plugs or converter.

I doubt this will make you feel better, but many seasoned mechanics will tell you that an oil burning engine can last near forever if kept full of oil. Often longer then the ones that don't use oil.

I've had many cars/trucks of many makes that ran great and ate oil. Not something I find to be uncommon. Note that I never buy any vehicle with less then 100K and then usually drive them to over 200K. So, I rarely know the history of a vehicle for its first 100K miles. All it takes is some scratches in one of the cylinder walls and an engine can run great, not foul plugs or converter, but eat oil.

My 1985 Toyota pickup with a 2.4 ate a quart of oil every two tanks of gas for as long as owned it. No smoke, no leaks, no fouled plugs and ran great.

Got it with 110K and scrapped it at 260K miles due to rust. Still ran perfect.

My daughter's 2000 Geo Prizm that was actually a Toyota with a 1.8 ate a quart of oil every tank of gas at 80K miles and it had a small tank! Ran great, never got worse but also never got better. She drove it for 10K miles and we sold it. She was not good at checking her oil and we figured we'd sell it before she blew it up.

We thought we were doing her a favor by getting her a Toyota - but that one was a big mistake.

Note that my daughter now has a 2010 Ford Escape with a 2.5 four cylinder. It too uses oil and we've been keeping close track since she was hoping to get warranty. On some trips it uses no measurable oil in one tank (usually highway driving). On others - it uses a full quart in one tank of gas. Runs perfect. It IS under warranty but Ford will not work on it unless they can verify it uses oil on every tankful. It only has 40K miles on it.

My 1992 Subaru Loyale 4WD with a 1.8 ate a quart every ONE tank of gas for as long as I drove it. Got it with 130K and still have it at 260K. Rusted out. Still runs perfect but had to take it off the road due to rust. Now a farm buggy.

My 1987 Chevy diesel Suburban with a 6.2 liter diesel used a quart of oil every tank of fuel since it was new ( I was friends with the owner). it has a 45 gallon fuel tank though. I got it at 180K and drove it to 500K. Oil consumption never got worse and engine ran flawlessly until it literally blew to pieces and the crank broke in two places.

My 2002 Subaru Outback Impreza with a 2.5 uses a quart of oil every two tanks of gas and runs perfect. I got it with 120K and it now has 190K.

My 1985 Isuzu 4WD diesel mini-truck with a 2.2 uses a quart of oil ever two tanks of fuel and runs perfect. 130K.

When I was a John Deere mechanic, I got a new service vehicle every few years. For a long time I drove a Ford (Mazda) Courier with a four cylinder. I beat the heck out of it and could not make it use a drop of oil. Put well over 100K of hard abusive miles on it. When the Ford Ranger was invented, I got one the first model year with a 2 liter engine made in Brazil. From the day it was new it ate oil like a pig. But - one cylinder kept oil fouling to a point the engine would skip. No smoke out the back though. Brought it back to the dealer many times but they pretty much refused to fix it under warranty. They offered to pull the engine all apart and inspect. Then if they felt nothing was wrong - they would bill us for the work. If they DID see something wrong - they would warranty it. We never had it fixed. Drove it to well over 100K and it ran fine as long as I kept pulling the one plug and cleaning it every couple of 100 miles. Many years later my new father-in-law who was a Ford engineer told me Ford had a huge oil burning problem with 2 liter fours and 5 liter V8s. He said the cylinders were out of round in the engines made in Brazil.

The only new car I ever bought in my life was a 1987 Nissan Sentra for $5700. A super stripped down economy special with power nothing and a four speed trans. Ate oil something awful since the day it was new. In that case, Nissan replaced the engine under warranty. Ran great, no smoke, no fouling. I was just ticked since it was a new car.

I also have some that use no oil. Seems to be a crap shoot. Those that I have that use no oil include my 1998 Dodge GrandCaravan with 3.8 and 160K, 1999 and 2001 Kia Sportages with 2 liter engines and 160K and 140K, 1995 Geo Tracker with a 1.6 and 130K, 1979 Datsun 280ZX with 160K, 1992 Dodge truck with 5.9 diesel and 230K, and 1994 Ford F250 with 7.3 diesel and 330K.

[gr8white]

I've had several Toyota oil-burners that ran perfect, never fouled plugs or converter.

I doubt this will make you feel better, but many seasoned mechanics will tell you that an oil burning engine can last near forever if kept full of oil. Often longer then the ones that don't use oil.

I've had many cars/trucks of many makes that ran great and ate oil. Not something I find to be uncommon. Note that I never buy any vehicle with less then 100K and then usually drive them to over 200K. So, I rarely know the history of a vehicle for its first 100K miles. All it takes is some scratches in one of the cylinder walls and an engine can run great, not foul plugs or converter, but eat oil.

My 1985 Toyota pickup with a 2.4 ate a quart of oil every two tanks of gas for as long as owned it. No smoke, no leaks, no fouled plugs and ran great.

Got it with 110K and scrapped it at 260K miles due to rust. Still ran perfect.

My daughter's 2000 Geo Prizm that was actually a Toyota with a 1.8 ate a quart of oil every tank of gas at 80K miles and it had a small tank! Ran great, never got worse but also never got better. She drove it for 10K miles and we sold it. She was not good at checking her oil and we figured we'd sell it before she blew it up.

We thought we were doing her a favor by getting her a Toyota - but that one was a big mistake.

Note that my daughter now has a 2010 Ford Escape with a 2.5 four cylinder. It too uses oil and we've been keeping close track since she was hoping to get warranty. On some trips it uses no measurable oil in one tank (usually highway driving). On others - it uses a full quart in one tank of gas. Runs perfect. It IS under warranty but Ford will not work on it unless they can verify it uses oil on every tankful. It only has 40K miles on it.

My 1992 Subaru Loyale 4WD with a 1.8 ate a quart every ONE tank of gas for as long as I drove it. Got it with 130K and still have it at 260K. Rusted out. Still runs perfect but had to take it off the road due to rust. Now a farm buggy.

My 1987 Chevy diesel Suburban with a 6.2 liter diesel used a quart of oil every tank of fuel since it was new ( I was friends with the owner). it has a 45 gallon fuel tank though. I got it at 180K and drove it to 500K. Oil consumption never got worse and engine ran flawlessly until it literally blew to pieces and the crank broke in two places.

My 2002 Subaru Outback Impreza with a 2.5 uses a quart of oil every two tanks of gas and runs perfect. I got it with 120K and it now has 190K.

My 1985 Isuzu 4WD diesel mini-truck with a 2.2 uses a quart of oil ever two tanks of fuel and runs perfect. 130K.

When I was a John Deere mechanic, I got a new service vehicle every few years. For a long time I drove a Ford (Mazda) Courier with a four cylinder. I beat the heck out of it and could not make it use a drop of oil. Put well over 100K of hard abusive miles on it. When the Ford Ranger was invented, I got one the first model year with a 2 liter engine made in Brazil. From the day it was new it ate oil like a pig. But - one cylinder kept oil fouling to a point the engine would skip. No smoke out the back though. Brought it back to the dealer many times but they pretty much refused to fix it under warranty. They offered to pull the engine all apart and inspect. Then if they felt nothing was wrong - they would bill us for the work. If they DID see something wrong - they would warranty it. We never had it fixed. Drove it to well over 100K and it ran fine as long as I kept pulling the one plug and cleaning it every couple of 100 miles. Many years later my new father-in-law who was a Ford engineer told me Ford had a huge oil burning problem with 2 liter fours and 5 liter V8s. He said the cylinders were out of round in the engines made in Brazil.

The only new car I ever bought in my life was a 1987 Nissan Sentra for $5700. A super stripped down economy special with power nothing and a four speed trans. Ate oil something awful since the day it was new. In that case, Nissan replaced the engine under warranty. Ran great, no smoke, no fouling. I was just ticked since it was a new car.

I also have some that use no oil. Seems to be a crap shoot. Those that I have that use no oil include my 1998 Dodge GrandCaravan with 3.8 and 160K, 1999 and 2001 Kia Sportages with 2 liter engines and 160K and 140K, 1995 Geo Tracker with a 1.6 and 130K, 1979 Datsun 280ZX with 160K, 1992 Dodge truck with 5.9 diesel and 230K, and 1994 Ford F250 with 7.3 diesel and 330K.

You said something there that seems to be happening with mine. Some trips it loses oil at a fast pace and sometimes it hardly loses oil at all. Interesting.

[Maineah]

Depends on how hard you work it they were not known to be oil burners.but that does not mean they can't. If you are convinced it's not leaking you'll just have to live with it. By the manufactures standards it has to use like a quart every 500- 600 .miles or so to be excessive.

[Vanman]

My 71 van used 1 qt. really fast. I got tired of trying to keep it full and quit adding for a while and it didn't use any more!!! Would stay 1 qt, down according to the dipstick, for several thousand miles, when it got 2 down I added 1. This went on for 170,000 or so , then it was using a qt. much more often.

[waiter]

My 97 Camry was like that, if I filled it up full, it would leak out the rear crank seal as fast as I poured it in. Finally pulled the engine and replaced the rear crank seal.

ANYWAY - brings up a good point, i.e. are you sure you have the correct dipstick?? or have you let it run down below 1 qt.

WARNING - These engines have solid lifters, One of the advantages of hydraulic lifters, if you run the oil real low, the engines lifters start making all kinds of noise. NOT SO with solid lifters, the 22r engine will run starved for oil until it seizes, ask my daughter (she had an old 75 Celica that she ran it out of oil and seized it)

John Mc

88 Dolphin 4 Auto

[WME]

The UV oil additive works great and Black lights aren't that had to find.

Also if you have an oil burner the UV trace will eventual show up in the tailpipe.

[Lee & Joan]

I have found that different brands & weights of oil will give different consumption rates.

I typically now use Castrol 20/50 with 20% full synthetic blended in. This gives low oil consumption.

The same 22R engine(s) running 10/40 will use some oil, but not so much with my "blend".

I have (4) 22Rs in the family.

[DanAatTheCape]

oil that drips directly on a hot exhaust will not be as noticeable, but you will see it if you drive it locally where the exhaust does not get as hot. If it is going out your tailpipe is a bit harder but you should see it in your exhaust - ever followed you vehicle while someone gunned it, etc?

[5Toyota]

waiter is right about the l ifters and the cam shaft has no insert bearings it runs right on the aluminum head . i run 20 w 50 have for 30 years datsen b210 240.000 77 toyota wagen 240.000 88 4wd 22re 220.000 22re moterhome 66.000 in my old pickup i run one n umber hotter plug one stage hotter is ok .

[stamar]

check the half moon facing the driver ( or in the rear)

of the valve cover.

a leak from there will not leak out when the engine is not running.

It will fall on the exhaust and on the ground leaving not a lot of trace, although there will be a general coating of oil everywhere.

clean it off and the whole are around it.

super common in 20 year old toyota trucks.