Lots of oil (1 Viewer)

[golfrat]

Hey folks, brand new here!
I have owned a 96 LC 6 cylinder 24 valve for about 7 years now. It is usually parked at our place in the hills here in AZ, and gets only about 1000 miles a year. I’ve noticed it uses about 1qt of oil a year. Upon inspection from above and underneath, there is oil everywhere. I’m thinking the likely sources are valve cover gaskets and oil pan gaskets.
Do any of you have any insights that might help me locate and resolve the oil leaking?
Many thanks!
-Kev

 

[dallen341]

clean the crap out of it. Add UV dye to oil, run and use UV light to see where the oil is coming from.

generally, back side of valve cover or pan arch of upper pan (back of engine) or oil pump (front driver side of engine) or distributor o-ring.

 

[simple]

Considering cleaning your engine seems like the red pill & blue pill moment in the Matrix. On one hand you can ignore your leaky old dinosaur and just drive it. On the other hand you clean the engine well enough to see the multiple leaks which turn into multiple projects which turns into spending lots of time and money (Agent Smith) appreciating that old truck....only for it to drive the same but give you a sense of power and control.

 

[Kernal]

Be careful if you clean the engine, you can do some harm if you aren't careful.

High pressure can force water into old wiring harnesses causing electrical gremlins.

Do not wash the top of the valve cover/engine; there are vertical spark plug tubes that can get filled with water which will short out the spark plugs and it won't start until it dries out.

Also do not spray water near the distributor (front top left side of engine),
there are breather holes that are wide open and if water gets inside the engine may not start (you can cover the distributor well but don't point the water spray directly at it).

Harsh cleaners (Simple Green, Purple Power, Foaming engine cleaners) will damage paint and rubber components, avoid using those.

As mentioned above the largest oil leak is often from the front lower aspect of the engine coming from the oil pump cover. Hard to see if it's covered in grime but it's located to the left (driver's side) or your right of the large crank pulley/harmonic balancer when facing the engine from in front of the radiator.

Helps (to see what's leaking up front) if you remove the splash plate located under the radiator, above the steering stabilizer.

Next would be the valve cover and the distributor O-ring and while doing that you would want to replace the spark plug tube seals and PCV valve grommet.

After that, oil dripping off the bottom of the bell housing (front of transmission) would be the rear arch of the upper oil pan; 99% of the time it is not the rear crank seal, but 99% of the time a mechanic who doesn't know this engine will diagnose it incorrectly as being from that seal. The fix is to drop both oil pans and reseal them using FIPG (form in place gasket).
You do not have to drop the transmission.

Post up a couple of photos to show us the engine/engine bay. You may need a few more posts to be able to attach photos.

Welcome to MUD!!

 

[BILT4ME]

Hey folks, brand new here!
I have owned a 96 LC 6 cylinder 24 valve for about 7 years now. It is usually parked at our place in the hills here in AZ, and gets only about 1000 miles a year. I’ve noticed it uses about 1qt of oil a year. Upon inspection from above and underneath, there is oil everywhere. I’m thinking the likely sources are valve cover gaskets and oil pan gaskets.
Do any of you have any insights that might help me locate and resolve the oil leaking?
Many thanks!
-Kev

If you do the following, you will get 95% of the leaks if not all of them. The other 5% are major issues to resolve and people usually live with them unless they are highly critical of oil leaks.

Valve Cover Gasket
Spark Plug Tube Seals
PCV Grommet
PCV Valve
PCV Hose
Distributor O-Ring
Oil Pump Seal
Front Main Seal

All the above can be done in about 12 man-hours.

They are relatively simple to do and someone about a mechanic can handle.

I would recommend while you're in there to do Spark Plug Wires, Rotor, Distributor Cap, Spark Plugs, AC and Cooling Fan belts.

It's also a good time to refresh the cooling system if you desire, but nothing of the cooling system has to be opened to do the list above.

 

[golfrat]

Considering cleaning your engine seems like the red pill & blue pill moment in the Matrix. On one hand you can ignore your leaky old dinosaur and just drive it. On the other hand you clean the engine well enough to see the multiple leaks which turn into multiple projects which turns into spending lots of time and money (Agent Smith) appreciating that old truck....only for it to drive the same but give you a sense of power and control.

so true

Be careful if you clean the engine, you can do some harm if you aren't careful.

High pressure can force water into old wiring harnesses causing electrical gremlins.

Do not wash the top of the valve cover/engine; there are vertical spark plug tubes that can get filled with water which will short out the spark plugs and it won't start until it dries out.

Also do not spray water near the distributor (front top left side of engine),
there are breather holes that are wide open and if water gets inside the engine may not start (you can cover the distributor well but don't point the water spray directly at it).

Harsh cleaners (Simple Green, Purple Power, Foaming engine cleaners) will damage paint and rubber components, avoid using those.

As mentioned the largest oil leak if often from the front lower aspect of the engine coming from the oil pump cover. Hard to see if it's covered in grime
but it's located to the left (driver's side) or your right of the large crank pulley/harmonic balancer when facing the engine from in front of the radiator.

Helps (to see what's leaking up front) if you remove the splash plate located under the radiator, above the steering stabilizer.

Next would be the valve cover and the distributor O-ring.
and while doing that you would want to replace the spark plug tube seals
and PCV valve grommet.

After that, oil dripping off the bottom of the bell housing (front of transmission) would be the rear arch of the upper oil pan; 99% of the time it is not the rear crank seal, but 99% of the time a mechanic who doesn't know this engine will diagnose it incorrectly as being from that seal. The fix is to drop both oil pans and reseal them using FIPG (form in place gasket).
You do not have to drop the transmission.

Post up a couple of photos to show us the engine/engine bay. You may need a few more posts to be able to attach photos.

Welcome to MUD!!

Awesome inputs and thanks! 1st job in line is finishing 8 rib upgrade on my ‘03 supercharged Marauder, but getting close on that, then onto the leaker LC. I will post photos as I go. Again, many thanks
-KK

 

[LongDuck]

When he mentioned posting pictures, he might have meant of the underside of the engine and transmission bell housing, since that would make it considerably easier to help you diagnose where the oil is leaking from, but hey... nice cruiser in the pines!

 

[golfrat]

When he mentioned posting pictures, he might have meant of the underside of the engine and transmission bell housing, since that would make it considerably easier to help you diagnose where the oil is leaking from, but hey... nice cruiser in the pines!

absolutely.. I will, I’m busting my butt on the Marauder just now. I will get under there and get some good photos and post them around the end of next week.

 

[deltapine1]

I had an 04' Silver Supercharged Marauder at one point. Absolutely one of the best open road machines I have ever owned.

Oil leaks that have been fixed on my 96' (mine is a DD) with 256k and counting. OEM Toyota seals & FIPG

Valve Cover gasket, Half Moons & Spark Plug seals
Distributor O Ring
Oil Pump O ring (twice now)
Front Main Seal while you are there on the Oil Pump O Ring
Rear Main Seal
Front Transmission seal while you are there on Rear Main
Crankshaft Position sensor
Oil Level sensor
Upper and Lower Pan including arches
O ring on plug near Oil Pump
PCV Valve, Grommet and hose replaced

Probably needs Valve Guide Seals as it smokes on cold starts and uses 1 qt every 2500 miles, I tried to list them in sequence of most probable leaks present.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

Considering cleaning your engine seems like the red pill & blue pill moment in the Matrix. On one hand you can ignore your leaky old dinosaur and just drive it. On the other hand you clean the engine well enough to see the multiple leaks which turn into multiple projects which turns into spending lots of time and money (Agent Smith) appreciating that old truck....only for it to drive the same but give you a sense of power and control.

I'll take the red pill any day.....ignorance is bliss