Oil Leak Culprit

[Lugal]

So I finally got my new-to-me FJ60 running, and let it idle for a while in the driveway. Once the engine warmed up, I noticed that it was smoking a fair amount from under hood.

The smoke's coming from oil leaking onto the exhaust manifold on the driver's side. The top of the engine block, behind the carburetor, is pretty wet, but it seems like a pretty slow leak. (Mind you, this rig has been sitting unused for months, but it's not leaving puddles on my driveway.)

My guess is that I've got a leaky valve cover gasket. But before I decide to dig in there to replace it, is there anything else that I should be looking for? Is there any particular part back there that's prone to dripping oil out onto the manifold? I'd hate to waste my time fixing a valve cover leak if there's a potential time bomb (like the infamous oil galley plug) that I should really be paying attention to.

So, what says the forum? Is it most likely my valve cover gasket, or is there something else that I should be worrying about?

 

[cruiser88]

Yep...its the gasket. Check the tightness of the bolts per FSM to see if they or one may be loose. If not replace.

 

[Joe Egolf]

so snug up the rocker cover and clean down the engine and see what that does

 

[klinetime574]

The oil galley plug is on the other side so no chance for that.

Get a new valve cover gasket and then you're good to go

 

[lovetoski]

The 2F is notorious for oil leaks. Give the engine a good cleaning, then run it to find where the leaks are. Valve cover is one likely one, pretty easy to replace the gasket. Side cover, oil pan are two other common ones.