steamvt

Took my 2000 GS300 to the mechanic, oil all over the place

Mechanic couldn't identify where it's coming from but mentioned sources could be
1. tappet cover gasket
2. front seal (there are two seals here right, cam and crank?)
3. rear main seal

Some questions
Is there a way I can rule out the first two? I was thinking to

1. Tappet/Rocker Cover
Wipe down the perimeter of the tappet cover gasket and monitor it

2. Front Cam Seal
Take off the plastic cover that's covering the seal, exposing it like this https://imgur.com/CLnH8aN
Wiping down this area and monitoring

3. Rear Main Seal or 4. Front Crank Seal
Identifying these will be the hardest - but monitoring (1) and (2) should only leave (3) and (4) right?
Front crank: https://imgur.com/tt0WZ68
Rear seal: https://imgur.com/iiaf7d6

Misc questions
Are there any other possible sources of oil leak? oil filter?
Are any of these sources pressurised? Or are they just leaking from a main container (block?) due to gravity and movement of old seals?

Thank you!

sbagdon

Front seal would be on the crank, believe there's two on the cams, one for each cam. If you do a job that takes off the intake cam, be sure to remove the vvt correctly.

rossmer

I chased oil leaks on my 99 GS3 with 140K for months, had indy replace valve cover/oil pan gaskets, then had dealer do cam/crank seals. They were not the cause, it was the common VVTi cam gear 13050-46010 that was the issue. It has a small o-ring in it that leaks. If you remove the timing cover and there is oil present, that's likely the cause. Rear mains are not common on these cars but the vvti cam gear is.

TrueGS300

The VVTi is very common and so are cam seals. I went in first to replace the seal on the VVTi (easy because it can be done on the car without removing the timing belt).Fixed most of it but still had leakage. Ended up doing both cam seals and the crank seal. Been dry ever since other than slight pan seepage which is not worth the time or effort to fix unless it becomes an actual leak. By your cars age and miles, if these seals haven't been done, they are all worn out. The VVTi seal is probably almost non-existent, and the cam seals hard as rocks. Picked my 98 up at 158,000 miles and this was the case for me. Maintenance items (like the timing belt/wp) had been replaced, but no-one ever took the extra step to replace the seals while they were at it. Next most common leak would be the valve (tappet) cover seals. Same thing, If they haven't been done, they are rock hard and in need of replacement. At least those areas will probably take care of the upper engine leaks.

TrueGS300

Oh on a side note, its very commonly overlooked and just re-installed, but when I saw the state of my harmonic balancer while doing the timing job. It had to be replaced, The rubber elastomer as it is refereed to that holds the inner and outer shell together starts to deteriorate. Again, by age and miles, I'm sure the rubber part is bulging out or even cracked. I have had two vehicles that the balancer came apart on and it gets pulled back into the timing cover, ripping the timing belt off and destroying other components. In the case of my Eclipse GS-T, when it failed and threw the timing belt, it bent the valves in the head and I had to rebuild the engine and buy all new timing components plus the balancer. On my C5 vette, it destroyed the metal front cover and ruined the oil pan. Front cover, oil pan, and balancer. Not cheap.

Long story short: Don't re-use a questionable balancer

sbagdon

So glad the 1U is non-interference...!

salimshah

what is the front most point that you see the oil on the block.

I had a similar condition on my SC. I speculated and speculated and finally took the plunge and cleaned everything underneath. Started the engine and could see the oil drip from the timing cover weep hole. Once that was confirmed, I knew I have to take the TB off and once you are at that stage just replace all the front seals ... cams and main.

If your vehicles nose is clean and only transmission soiled, then you have valve cover/rear_main or even the transmission leak. If the grime is 1/2 way upon the block then it is the valve cover.

Check the color of the fluid .. red -> transmission, golden->black engine oil. Also check the dipstick as to which one you are loosing.

Salim

lexo98

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