Diagnose the oil leak

[thommo]

My daughters 2002 Camry has an oil leak at the rear of the engine, on the timing chain side (left hand side if facing the car). It is dripping down onto something near the bottom of the engine. I cleaned it all up with degreaser today, took it for a drive to try to pinpoint where it is coming from.

It seems to be dripping down onto the lower engine/drive shaft (or something???) from some point below where the manifolds come out of the rear engine (see my fantastic diagram - apologies, tried to take a photo but camera could not focus down there).

It's not leaking heaps, maybe 1-2 drops of oil on the garage floor each night.

cheers

[trentmeyer23]

Possibly valve cover or sump gasket, hard to tell without pics though.

[alan.chalkley]

With just 1-2 drops per night it's more of a little seep than a leak..

Monitor the oil levels and see which one is falling to confirm if it's engine oil / power steering oil / transmission oil / brake fluid.

[thommo]

With just 1-2 drops per night it's more of a little seep than a leak..

Monitor the oil levels and see which one is falling to confirm if it's engine oil / power steering oil / transmission oil / brake fluid.

Pretty sure it's engine oil.

I also note when it was last serviced, the oil on the dipstick was about 1cm above the full mark. Does over-filling make engines more prone to spring a leak (e.g. oil pressure gets too high)?

[alan.chalkley]

If a car leaks/burns one litre or more of oil in 1000kms then it needs attention.

My 93 2200 camry has done 360000kms and drips about 1-2 drops per day and takes a couple of thousand ks to use a litre of oil.

Excessive overfill can damage seals when pressure builds up.

Make sure the car is on a level surface when checking oil.

How many ks has it done?

[thommo]

If a car leaks/burns one litre or more of oil in 1000kms then it needs attention.

My 93 2200 camry has done 360000kms and drips about 1-2 drops per day and takes a couple of thousand ks to use a litre of oil.

Excessive overfill can damage seals when pressure builds up.

Make sure the car is on a level surface when checking oil.

How many ks has it done?

Only 95,000 kms !!!!

The oil level on the dripstick seems to be holding constant, though the car only prob does about 50kms a week around town. I need to take in on a decent 1-2hr drive one day to see what happens.

If it was my car I wouldn't give a rats, but don't want it conking out on our daughter in the middle of no-where.

[trentmeyer23]

Take it to a mechamic and have them inspect it. They will be able to provide a more useful diagnosis on the leak.

[thommo]

Take it to a mechamic and have them inspect it. They will be able to provide a more useful diagnosis on the leak.

Yes, its up for rego @ end of Sept, so was going to have it looked at then, just want to make sure no engine damage will happen with the small leak over the next 6 weeks.