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With an oil leak that extreme you should be able to see where its literally oozing out from with the engine idling as you lay under the car.
I had a similar situation where I was getting puffs of smoke from under my engine coming out from my hood on my 96 LS400. It ended up being a pinhole in my oil filter. It had covered the bottom of my car in oil- naturally. The smoke was coming from the pinhole spraying oil onto my lower exhaust manifold downpipes.
I have a picture of this in my update thread as I have been fixing my LS up since I got it. In the "Build threads"
An oil change (plus oil filter change) fixed my oil leak. I'm so glad I got under my car myself with it running and just carefully looked around. I suggest you do the same.
Id guess if I took my car anywhere, the oil all over like it was they would have assumed my oil pan gasket was shot too.
When I got my LS400 first she was delayed by 30K miles of maintenance. Crankshaft seal blew the harmonic balancer and oil was raining below the car. The place I got my car from paid for part of it and I got everything that needed to be done done such a new timing belt, fluids, seals, ect. Two years later runs and hums like new put 20K miles on her and have kept up with all the maintenance. The only issue I have had after was the power steering leaking but I heard that's one of the only common issues this car has. Got it fixed the next day. Only thig I found out after I got it my car did not have the original motor in it but my mechanic said it was in good shape. So if I was you I would just get whatever needs to get done all in one shot. Sure it is expensive but you will be saving money in the long run.
Just got up and looked around my car. First off, I must have been too freaked out to properly check the oil dipstick because there actually is still plenty of oil in there lol. From looking more thoroughly under the hood, I can tell that the valve cover gasket is pretty leaky. Next, I got under the car and did a quick look around. There is definitely a lot of oil leaking but none of it is touching the ground because it sprayed further along the underside of the car. A little is leaking from the transmission pan gasket but most of it is coming from the engine oil pan. How can I tell if it's the upper or lower oil pan?
That oil leak ain't nothin! You can still see the crossmember is silver and the cats are pretty oil free too. Just because the oil pan has oil on it doesn't mean the oil pans are leaning. They are on the bottom of the engine and that is where oil leaks collect. My money is on valve cover gaskets. Have those some first or do them yourself.
That oil leak ain't nothin! You can still see the crossmember is silver and the cats are pretty oil free too. Just because the oil pan has oil on it doesn't mean the oil pans are leaning. They are on the bottom of the engine and that is where oil leaks collect. My money is on valve cover gaskets. Have those some first or do them yourself.
Hmm, this is the 2nd time that someone has told me it's probably just the valve cover gasket so I bet you're right. I'll just go ahead and get it done ( a lil' above my skill set) and while I'm there have the indie Lexus shop figure out why my car stalled after the new battery. Thanks!
my 97 LS with 278k has more "wetness" on the oil pan than yours and I'm attributing that to original VC gaskets. I'm not worrying about it at this time, until I start either physcially seeing drips on the ground or smell oil through the cabin with the fresh air button
Just got off the phone with the local Toyota/Lexus/Scion specialist shop that had my car for a diagnosis. Everything that you guys told me might be going on with my car was correct.
They said that my car is in terrific shape. The only problems are very minor leaks from the valve cover gasket and transmission pan gasket that aren't worth addressing right now because they aren't an issue and quite costly to replace (they quoted me $1200) so it would be better for me to have them done with my 180,000 mile service when the engine is all opened up. Also, my undercarriage is very rusty (even though it somehow looks spotless in the pictures) which will be a concern later on down the road. The car randomly shutting off on me was because the car had to relearn the proper idle after the battery was changed. They said I don't need a throttle body service or fuel injector service and can't even figure out why they would be recommended to me.
Clearly, I will never be back to the Toyota dealership and only going to this shop (ToyoTechs for anyone in Atlanta) from now on. I'm going to try fixing the transmission pan gasket leak on my own this weekend.
Dealerships are in the business of upselling, or selling you a new car - there's a reason why you see salespeople roaming the service drive. They'll just dump in a can of BG 44K or MOC's stuff in the tank, spray down the throttle body and be done with it. Things you can do yourself, these cars are decently easy to work on.
Since you did say the car shut off and low oil pressure/level, battery and check engine lights were on, I wonder what shape your alternator is in?
Just got off the phone with the local Toyota/Lexus/Scion specialist shop that had my car for a diagnosis. Everything that you guys told me might be going on with my car was correct.
They said that my car is in terrific shape. The only problems are very minor leaks from the valve cover gasket and transmission pan gasket that aren't worth addressing right now because they aren't an issue and quite costly to replace (they quoted me $1200) so it would be better for me to have them done with my 180,000 mile service when the engine is all opened up. Also, my undercarriage is very rusty (even though it somehow looks spotless in the pictures) which will be a concern later on down the road. The car randomly shutting off on me was because the car had to relearn the proper idle after the battery was changed. They said I don't need a throttle body service or fuel injector service and can't even figure out why they would be recommended to me.
Clearly, I will never be back to the Toyota dealership and only going to this shop (ToyoTechs for anyone in Atlanta) from now on. I'm going to try fixing the transmission pan gasket leak on my own this weekend.
glad you have the courage to tackle the tranny pan gasket. Its rather simple, just a lot of 10mm bolts (19 of them). I used a 19V cordless drill and magnetic parts tray to hold them all. You may need to buy a scraper if you have the original FIPG on there, but what I would do is just buy a simple gasket and tranny filter kit from O'Reillys for 18 bucks and replace it with. Its too difficult to replicate the FIPG that was done at the factory, especially when under the car with ATF dripping on you. You can either choose the WIX version or the basic one, I opted for the PowerTorque one since the filter looked to be of better quality, usually its the other way around. I paid I think 22.99 for the kit with gasket and filter. Use 3 qts of Toyota T4 fluid, drain and fill it twice and then on the third time, replace the filter and gasket. That way, you'll get all the old fluid out without getting old deposits on the new filter.
02-17-17, 07:38 PM
put 20K miles on her and have kept up with all the maintenance. The only issue I have had after was the power steering leaking but I heard that's one of the only common issues this car has. Got it fixed the next day. Only thig I found out after I got it my car did not have the original motor in it but my mechanic said it was in good shape. So if I was you I would just get whatever needs to get done all in one shot. Sure it is expensive but you will be saving money in the long run.
