davidber

I have an ES300 with ~105k miles on it. This car other than having two coil packs go is a fantastic car. The other day my wife was driving it and said the oil light came on. She said she looked and it was low.

Low and behold, she gets two quarts of oil to put in it.

I put the oil in and started it up on Saturday. I noticed that it starts leaking oil immediately.

It seems to be leaking from under the valve cover and this is where I think it is leaking from.



I mentioned this to my wife. Unbeknownst to me, she decided to drive it yesterday. (Never thought I would use that word!)

This morning she tried to drive it again. She works outside of the house and I work in the house. So the choice between a truck and the lexus she tries to snake a ride in the Lexus This time she came in and said it was smoking a lot more than normal. She took the truck and left me the problem.

So I went and let it run for 5 minutes. This is what is coming out of the tail pipe.



It doesn't have a smell.

Normally in the morning the car will smoke for a little bit and then nothing. This was going on and on. I noticed the engine temperature in the car did not rise and was still on C.

I am a so-so mechanic. I do better with keyboards than wrenches, but I do follow directions very well!

Any ideas what this is? Is it something as simple as the valve gasket wearing out?

Thanks in advance for all the help.

dave

PS. I am not sure if this version of vbulletin will show smaller versions of the images when I post. If it doesn't, sorry

dcapo

if u really want to determine on where the leak is coming from, get some uv(ultra violet or blacklight) dye for engine oil and a uv flashlight, and clean your engine, watch this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIGEJ0-aIiM, any engine codes poppin up?

swifty562

i think there was some damage done to your motor since it was low on oil. it'll cause some internal damage. and since you pop in some oil there might be some bad seals because it started leaking and puffing smoke . if anything the oil is leaking through your motor and forcing the smoke out of the exhaust. so in essence, the possibility 1) you have a bad piston ring... or 2)a leak through the o ring for the spark plugs. either way it'll burn the oil and puff out smoke through your exhaust.

davidber

Gentlemen thanks for the response. I like the idea of cleaning the engine and seeing where the leak is/was. I am not so sure about the damage because the oil light had basically come on and then gone off, then oil was put in. Again, I am better with a keyboard than a wrench, but wouldn't the oil light have to have stayed on and then run for a bit to do that kind of damage?

The car when it was running to produce the images, the engine sounded like it has for the last 10 years Nothing sounded out of the norm.

I have not moved the vehicle since this message. I will check the oil level again and see what that says.

Thanks again for the responses.

dave

mmlex1987

As for swiftys post, I agree with the spark plug issue, but if you had a bad piston ring, it would not be leaking externally the way you are describing. You are stating that the engine is leaking heavily externally as well as the obvious buring oil out the exhuast, right?

davidber

I dropped the car off today at the repair shop. It didn't smoke when I started it and was not smoking when I got there (about 4 miles away.) The shop said they would run some diagnostics and let me know what is going on with it. I will report back here when I know more from them.

Thanks again for the responses.

davidber

Update:

The guy stated that the 'engine is tired.' He mentioned valve seals are leaking through to the bottom of the engine.

He suggested replacing the whole engine.

I am having difficulty believing that this is true.

I am thinking of taking it to the dealership (40 miles away) and having them look at it.

Thoughts?

davidber

I just got back from visiting my baby

The repair guy stated that it may not be very wise to even bother trying to replace the valve seals. That the labor to do it would be cost prohibitive and he stated that there may be even more things wrong with it. He is highly recommending replacing the engine. He is suggesting that a used engine be put in.

This still seems extreme but understandable. I look at this and think that if I go with a used engine that I am now inheriting someone's previous problem. A used engine is like playing what is behind door number 1.

He pulled the dip stick and showed me bubbles on the dipstick and stated that means that there is air in the system. This is another reason why he thinks there maybe more to it than just the valve issue.

Does anyone have any experience in replacing engines? What am I looking at? Should I even consider this? I like the car. I don't like the mileage it gets. I also like that it is paid for I am guessing that this engine and replacement is going to be a $3000+ bill. This vehicle gets around 6-8k miles per year on it and honestly, I had planned on holding it onto it for another 5-10 years.