Bought this '08 350 a few months back.
Changed the oil about a week ago and noticed there was fluid all over the undercover, sway bar and lots of other stuff on the driver's side of things like engine block, cv boot, etc. There is absolute no fluid on the passenger side, so I thought the last numbnut must have spilled oil when filling it. Wiped everything down as best as I could. Every day since, I have checked oil level (at same level as right after change). I notice that there's now a little sheen back on the sway bar and the "gears" (for lack of better word) that the belts run on. What else could this be and is it time to take it in to the stealership?

 

If its around the suspension I would guess one of your shocks went out, they leak oil when they do. I have had two replaced under warranty on my IS250 and its at about 45k

 

I'd thought about that, but would that type of leak get all the way over and up to areas like the belt "gears" and the top edge of the engine block (where the bolts are)? Especially the belt "gears', I mean it's really in there.

 

Put the car up on stands and check it out firsthand, otherwise take it somewhere to find the source of the leak. Though not common, I've read about the cam cover/timing cover seals going out on a couple 2IS models. One hell of a fix!

GL!

 

Ok, snapped some pics to better illustrate what has happened.

I did put the car up on ramps tonight. Removed the undertray. It's definitely not as bad as when I first saw it. I mean, I went thru about 20 paper towels wiping off stuff. Even though there seems to be some fresh liquid, I also couldn't get everything wiped up last time.

Does anyone else's car look like this?

 

That's a lot and old to boot with that much caking. My advice is get a couple cans of brake cleaner and hose everything down until you see clean metal. Do this when the engine is cold and try to avoid the belt as much as possible as well as the inside of the alternator. Then monitor the area for a while and see what shows up. Look around the seams of the various parts like head, timing cover etc. The factory seal is grey (you'll barely see it squished out from the seams) if what you see is black then someone has probably been inside the motor for some reason. Maybe a previous leak was repaired and not cleaned. Most tech's don't bother cleaning because you don't get paid to.

If an independent shop was inside then the seal compound could be any color, but the Toyota sealant in the tube is black. Start watching the cam seal area and go down from there.

 

Great advice, I'll do that this weekend and keep an eye on it. Just curious, if my oil level is not dropping, what the heck else can it be??

 

See if the shop has some of that dye that is used for leak detection you can see with black light. Than you should be able to see where it is leaking from.

 

Anyone think it would be ok to loosen and then re-tighten the bolts to the engine? If so, anyone know the torque specs?

 

It's probably left over from a repaired leak in the past which explains your oil level not dropping. But you want to be sure.

Jeez, do not touch any bolts with a wrench. Confirm you actually have a leak first.

 

Copy that, will leave it alone.

I did clean it off as best as I could w/ some brake cleaner, but didn't want to spray too much. But, there's enough bare metal now so I snapped some more pics to use as a baseline and I will check again mid and end of week I hope you're right and this is just leftovers.

Thanks for your advice.

 

Pulled off the undercover today and it was a mess down there; the tray had a bunch of caked stuff and there was a bit more caked grime down there.


I noticed that the oil filter housing looked pretty new; the housing itself and a whole bunch of bolts down there looked brand new. There were a lot of other very new looking bolts and parts down there as well. Do you think this car had a bad oil pump?

From below, I was able to wipe things down much better so I will get back under there next weekend, but I'm really hoping the repair person just did a horrible job of cleaning up (if they did at all).

 

That looks like fresh motor oil, you have a leak somewhere. It could be the oil filter housing! You can put your vin number into mylexus.com to and look at your vehicles history if it had repairs done through a dealership.

I would def clean the area with a mild degreaser, like simple green spray it down with water. Drive it for a day or two and take it to a mechanic to have them look at it, I would also keep an eye on the oil levels in the engine. But this doesnt look like something major, possibly a bad seal or copper washer that needs replacing.

 

If the valve covers were ever removed for any reason, that might explain your problem. that driver's side valve cover gasket can get pinched on installation. makes one hell of a mess

 

Yep, one hell of a mess is definitely what I had. I wiped things down pretty well and now have a much better baseline to go off of. Will get back under this weekend and see what it looks like.

Is it ok to spray a degreaser like Simple Green onto those electrical connectors? I'm not going to unplug any of them, but just to get the grime off the outside of wires and connectors...is that ok or a no-no?