Oil dripping. cause?

[EK1]

Hi,

i drive a stock 1989 camry. Was wondering what would cause my car to drip oil.

My mother was told i was due to some sort of seal problem, costing about $300 to fix. is it this correct and is it worth fixing and is the price quoted to fix the problem too expensive?

thanks

[cypher]

a bit vague there dude but i'll have a crack at it -

firstly u need to know where the oil is coming from ( best to have a look at where the trail of oil starts be it the rocker cover ect)

secondly pricing depends on the area that is leaking - hard to reach more pricey $$$

$300 sounds fair IMO coz its prolly few hrs labour to take it apart, put it together and reseal the whole thing.

Hope that helps.

Cypher

[Blind Kid Seeks]

a bit vague there dude but i'll have a crack at it -

firstly u need to know where the oil is coming from ( best to have a look at where the trail of oil starts be it the rocker cover ect)

secondly pricing depends on the area that is leaking - hard to reach more pricey $$$

$300 sounds fair IMO coz its prolly few hrs labour to take it apart, put it together and reseal the whole thing.

Hope that helps.

Cypher

if its a rocker cover gasket $300 is way over priced. plus you could do it yourself.

take some photo's of the leak and post it up.. i'm sure theres a few of us here who could help you diagnose the problem and give you a cost estimate.

[Whip Cracker]

Sounds like the quote to get the main seals in the engine replaced...

[Blind Kid Seeks]

Sounds like the quote to get the main seals in the engine replaced...

hmm last time i checked... rear main seals meant the gearbox had to come out.

I'd expect it to be higher than that.

[Whip Cracker]

That's true, but who would charge someone $300 to replace a rocker cover gasket?

The rocker cover gasket must be REALLY bad to be leaking oil that bad. Normally it's something you can wipe away.

[sv21_ownR]

Try to clean the engine bay the best you can and inspect daily. Try following the drips and see if it leads to anything. When diagnosing oil leaks, you work from the top to bottom, so the first one people jump to is the valve cover gasket(VCG) and the seal at the distrubutor. Those tend to cause leaks on older cars.

If not, then as mentioned before, main seals, rear main seal, dodgy welch plug or maybe even the sump? All done by inspection.

Maybe it's not the engine, maybe it's power steering? Or transmission?

[EK1]

Try to clean the engine bay the best you can and inspect daily. Try following the drips and see if it leads to anything. When diagnosing oil leaks, you work from the top to bottom, so the first one people jump to is the valve cover gasket(VCG) and the seal at the distrubutor. Those tend to cause leaks on older cars.

If not, then as mentioned before, main seals, rear main seal, dodgy welch plug or maybe even the sump? All done by inspection.

Maybe it's not the engine, maybe it's power steering? Or transmission?

I'm guessing it leaks onto a place near the oil filter and dipstick. it would probably be more to the left of the headers of the car. when it leaks it drips off that place than onto the ground. and before what used to happen was when its hot it sometimes drips onto that place and creates white smoke when it touches the metal and sometimes i can see the white smoke rise from near the front headlights to the middle of the bonnet and up into the air. and sometimes the smoke use to go into the driver's compartment area through the airconditioning vent. i'll try to upload photos soon when i can find my usb cord. its probably located on the left side upper of the oil filter and inbetween the the space inbetween the oil filter and dip stick . depending on which way the oil drips. hope this helps.

[EK1]

Try to clean the engine bay the best you can and inspect daily. Try following the drips and see if it leads to anything. When diagnosing oil leaks, you work from the top to bottom, so the first one people jump to is the valve cover gasket(VCG) and the seal at the distrubutor. Those tend to cause leaks on older cars.

If not, then as mentioned before, main seals, rear main seal, dodgy welch plug or maybe even the sump? All done by inspection.

Maybe it's not the engine, maybe it's power steering? Or transmission?

I'm guessing it leaks onto a place near the oil filter and dipstick. it would probably be more to the left of the headers of the car. when it leaks it drips off that place than onto the ground. and before what used to happen was when its hot it sometimes drips onto that place and creates white smoke when it touches the metal and sometimes i can see the white smoke rise from near the front headlights to the middle of the bonnet and up into the air. and sometimes the smoke use to go into the driver's compartment area through the airconditioning vent. i'll try to upload photos soon when i can find my usb cord. its probably located on the left side upper of the oil filter and inbetween the the space inbetween the oil filter and dip stick . depending on which way the oil drips. hope this helps.

[CelicaDreams]

Check the oil filter, ryco have had quite a few seep, mine leaked after 500km

[rubberowner]

After changing oil and filter, I learned the hard way that I should ALSO have changed the gasket/grommet on the oil drain plug. It leaked until I bought a new one.

Replacing the oil drain plug gasket with oil still in the engine? Priceless.

Hope this stops someone else from making the same mistake.

Kind regards, rubber.