Oil is leaking around what appears to be the valve cover intake and exhaust gaskets. Especially towards the front and rear passenger side corners. It leaks and gathers along the side and ridge of the oil pan and some settlement in the shroud that sheilds the distributor and has leaked onto my alternator and mechanic says address this or I will have to replace the alt. So I am experiencing difficult starts due to oil saturating my wires and alt. I want to invest the $ but I have no idea what to do first or sequentially. Please consider I am on a student loan repayment budget and it is a recession..lol. Any help would be appreciated...thanks.

 

do the valve cover gaskets your self lol...pretty simple...and pick up a distributor o-ring, and pick up black silicone for the valve cover and a good little glob of it in the corners and where there are the little half moon metal peices...you might have to pull them out and reseal them. and for your dis. oring, just mark were your dis. is now pull it out and replace the oring and put it back and bolt it down. and your duhn! haha

 

Thanks for the reply, but..Whoa!..I may have failed to mention that I am clueless when it comes to dirt/grease jobs but I can strip a PC and rebuild it to new specs. As I just left the mechanic 3 days ago, I just hate to go back for this b/c I should have had it done then. In addition I'm wasting another tow on my motor club.
Mechanic suggested I take the oil issue elswhere but he could do the tune up.
IDK what to do, spend the $ on new wires and at least get it to start and run til my next pay; and eventually have the same probs b/c I didn't fix the leak? In contrast, take a chance on new hands on my babe to address the leak and risk being raped in costs!? If I lived in sunny Cali, she would probably be running today..the midwest weather sucks! Any suggestions?

 

take off the timing belt cover...the cover thats has the lexus logo on it and see if there is oil running behind the cam gears...if so you better save up, if not...just start with the valve covers and dis. o-ring....you should be able to do the oring by yourself...takes like 10 mins.

 

I know this doesnt help your situation too much, but if your short on money and the Gs is giving you problems, sell it and get a motorcycle for now. Most GS's are fixer uppers, so this probably isnt going to be the only problem your going to run into.

 

On the contrary, I have considered the option of selling it and starting over with a CAMRY...would love a bike but I live in the midwest so I could not use it year round. The common denominator to my start issues has been rain and moisture. This am I got up and popped the hood and left it cracked for a few hours so whatever was causing the moisture would hopefully dry out. Said a prayer and cranked it...my babe started right up!! It's the rain, its leaking onto my wires/distributor. Somewhere, the rain is draining right into that area instead of off and/or away from the car. Simple fix..b/c I have no garage..I'm gonna get a tarp and cover it whenever it rains until I figure out how to stop this moisture issue. The tune up is still necessary but I am now living in state with "lake effect" rains. I have never had this problem during other rainy periods in my previous state. Thank you all for your help. I knew this car was a good investment and has been very dependable. I just may have to get a second/third job to get her where I want her to be. All in all, out of all the car's I have ever owned, it's been my favorite!!

 

try this. when its running. get a spray bottle and fill it with water and spray it on the wires while its running...if it stalls just buy new wires and install them....

 

If I was close to you, I would offer to help, but those are fairly simple man...just try it. I promise you will be pleased. BTW, if you do, go ahead and replace spark plugs while you are changing valve cover gaskets