dubstatus

After a few posts of trying to understand where oil could be leaking from, I decided to get back under my car today and take a better look around. I thought the rear main seal was leaking, because the oil would drip down the side of the bell housing and hit the ground. I checked the rear main seal gasket and it seemed fine.

I looked up towards the top, and there sat the puddle, underneath the exhaust manifold (the one closest to the firewall).

As you can see in the pic, it's directly underneath the manifold. The top looks typically dirty, but I don't see any actual leaks above the manifolds.

Would this be a valve cover leak? What would this typically cost to fix on one of these cars? Thanks

Mandrake

Is the rear main seal really a gasket? How did you check that without removing the transmission? From what you showed me, it looked like the rear main seal is leaking. I suppose it could be your valve cover, but they typically don't drip oil this badly. If it is the VCG, they aren't that difficult or expensive to do. You're going to need to look up the procedure before you do it though to find out what parts you'll need. You'll probably need camshaft seals at the same time.

dubstatus

Woops i didnt mean rear main seal gasket. I meant the rectangular rubber cover thats on the tranny. That didnt show any signs of leakage. The oil is coming from above and hitting tubes, along with the side of the tranny. I think its the valve cover, bc the top of that manifold looks wet and the leak gathers right underneath it.

Mandrake

That definitely looks like a leaky valve cover gasket from what I can see in the picture there.

Slickcam

Just did my vcg. Not to difficult. Takes a little time and patience.

joewitafro

most definitely leaky valve cover gasket. Also replace the squish washers on the covers.

dubstatus

Yes I think that's the culprit. I was reading another thread however, and someone mentioned the valve cover bolts coming loose. I decided to check and all I can say is all 4 on the exhaust side were pretty damn loose...the one in the corner closest to the firewall was so loose I could tighten it with my hand. I tightened all 4 bolts on the exhaust side, and whichever ones I could hit on the opposite side.

I don't think it's a coincidence that the leak is coming directly from where the loosest bolts were...

joewitafro

Dubstatus, while you're at it ... get new valve cover screws and PROPERLY torque them. I can tell why you're leaking! Those are improper bolts and most likely extremely overtightened causing a serious leak. You need new seals, washers and screws.

dubstatus

I see what you mean...but the bolts were very loose and I tightened them by hand. Anyways, it's still leaking. How will overtightening the valve cover bolts cause it too leak?

joewitafro

Toyota designed the washers, valve cover gasket and the properly applied torque to work together. Overtorqueing them causes the gasket to malfunction.

lextout

imo 99% of the time on these 2gen gs's the majority of leaks are the valve covers,cam seals, and the occasion power steering lines.

jerrysims7

Changed my vcg and still leaking from back somewhere too gonna look deeper into it when weather gets nice