Oil leak getting worse

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Starlet-supra

Member +
So ever since i bought my EP82 1994 Starlet 1.3L Turbo GT model, i have noticed this small oil leak on my driveway when i bought it. Well now after 11 000km's later that leak is starting to get worse and worse so i know i need to fix it now. I had a mechanic inspect it, and he said its definitely coming from the upper part of the engine, he said most likely its one of the cam shaft seals. Now i took a look at it as well, and i noticed from the top that the timing belt cover is definately sweating around in some places, so im certain as well that its the cam shaft seal? Its leaking down and over the i believe A/C or P/S pump and its just dripping off onto the ground. Now my problem is that i am from Canada, and finding parts for this car is definately a pita. Could anyone help me out, with some part numbers for ordering? I looked on toyodiy, and im not 100% sure on the part numbers, so i would need x2 cam shaft seals x1 valve cover gasket. Can someone provide me with those exact part numbers? And also a place or website i can order those parts from? Thanks in advance
 
dac69er

dac69er

Super Moderator
take the top cam belt cover off and have a look. its more likely to be the cam cover gasket leaking as if it leaks from the camshaft seals, it is normally un-noticeable until it drips off the bottom of the cambelt cover.

easiest way to spot where a leak is coming from is to clean the oil up as best you can, use break cleaner or similar to shift it. then keep an eye on it to see if you can see where the leak is coming from. I had a small leak on my rebuilt engine. took me a while to find and it was just one of the cam cover bolts not being done up tight enough.
 
H_D

H_D

Member +
I think your nearest distributor for parts will be www.speedvisioncps.com.
If the leak is coming from the cam cover seal or the camshaft seal itself next to the cambelt cover it can usually be sorted out with a bit of sealer.
 
weeJohn

weeJohn

Lifer
Those seals are the same as all Toyotas fitted with a 4EFE engine, Corolla, Tercel etc. You should be able to pick them up in Canada either from Toyota or a Motor factors.
 
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Starlet-supra

Member +
thanks for the replies guys, i definitely will pop the top timing cover off and shine a flash light to see where its coming from, i noticed the other way its sweating oil around the top timing cover as well, but i cleaned it up a while ago, takes about a week, to start noticing the drips again. Usually over night will drip, and soon as i have been driving the car around, and i stopped for shopping for example, after 3 hrs i come out, and there will be a drip under the car, so its getting worse, definitely will take the time this weekend to pop the top timing cover off.
 
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Starlet-supra

Member +
quick update i wasnt full able to pop the timing belt cover off, because it seems a little too complicated, however i managed to take the top screws off and take a peek in there to see whats happening. here are some pics

here is what it looks like, i was able to take a better look inside there, and the timing belt is dry, and has no oil residue on it what soever



as you can see that mid section around the timing belt cover it is very wet of motor oil and sweating around with motor oil



this is looking down from the top of the timing belt cover down towards the oil pan, you can see the oil around



a better peak in between the timing belt cover and the valve cover looked somewhat clean



you can see the oil is pretty bad down there towards the bottom of the engine



this is underneath the car, you can see the ac compressor is covered in motor oil residue and in fact it is dripping off the ac compressor



its also dripping off the oil pan



looking up towards the timing belt cover it is very wet of motor oil




overall i hope someone will be able to figure out and tell me hopefully where its leaking from and if someone else has had this issue before, its kind of urgent as my poor starlet is looking quite a bit of motor oil
 
dac69er

dac69er

Super Moderator
oil cap seal? mine was leaking and caused a similar problem. a little oil makes a big mess.
even if you sort the leak, if you don't clean ALL the oil up it will continue to drip for a while afterwards.

you really need to clean it all as best you can. get a tin of brake and clutch cleaner and some rags and clean all the oil up from top to bottom. make sure you get into every nook and cranny.


I would suspect the leak is from the cam cover seal, but to be sure you need to clean it and see where the oil originates.
 
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Starlet-supra

Member +
ok so i had someone look at the car on the lift, they said it was my crank shaft seal leaking and getting sprayed every where :( what shall i do in this case
 
dac69er

dac69er

Super Moderator
it must have no seal if its spraying right up to he top of the engine. it is most likely leaking, as most do, but I reckon you have a leak from higher up.

if it is just the crank seal, just get a new seal and replace it. may as well chuck a new cambelt on at the same time as that will have to be removed anyway.


for the third time; you need to clean it all up from top to bottom so you can be 100% sure where the oil is coming from.


the other option is to replace everything that side. crank seal, oil dipstick oring, cam seals, cam cover seal and oil cap seal.
 
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elison

Member +
Buddy you need to clean the engine completely to see where the oil is exactly coming from. Otherwise it would be just a guess work. Clean it up very very good and take close looks at it to see where its exactly leaking from.

You could find some seals at www.speedvisioncps.com
I bought a complete toyota 4efte seal kit from them when i did my forged build
 
weeJohn

weeJohn

Lifer
Good advice from elison there, clean it all down and have a drive, see where it comes from. If it is the crankshaft seal on the timing belt side it can be replaced without to much trouble.
 
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Starlet-supra

Member +
thanks for the reply guys, i have decided im going to order a full oem gasket set from the speed vision cps.com website. few questions though

http://speedvisioncps.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=29&products_id=109

im about to order that full oem gasket set ^^^ along with an ARC intercooler.

my question is, it doesnt specify if that oem gasket kit is for 4E-FTE, or for the non turbo 4E?? My car is 4E-FTE model so i need the overhaul kit for that, and im wondering if that kit for the 4E-FTE?? And another quick question how quality is their turbo kits for the starlet?? Are they ebay quality or actually good quality??
 
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elison

Member +
The gasket set specified for the 4E is for the 4E. Used mine with no problems on my 4EFTE forged rebuild. Got everything i needed. Only thing i did not use was the head gasket due to using a MLS gasket.
Cannot give you a rating on their turbo kits but i guess you get what you pay for. But overall got several parts from them and they worked out pretty good.

Make sure you clean that engine and inspect it in every aspect so you know for sure where it is coming from.
Good luck
 
Guye

Guye

Lifer
Agreed with Elison (can't rep you again just yet). Another possibility is the o-ring for the oil pump. Best to check everything to be sure.
 
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Starlet-supra

Member +
an update with my oil leak.

I took another stab at it, and got the top half of the timing belt cover off.

From First notice, the cam shaft seal does not seem to be leaking

The the other camshaft plug does not seem to be leaking.

The Timing belt its self is dry and does not have oil residue on it.

I still do not Know what it is or could be coming from.

Up close to the Cam Shaft Seal



The other one



This spot to where the valve cover gasket is, seems to be seeping through there a little bit of oil?



Up close of valve cover Gasket



Looking down to the bottom of the timing belt



the whole bottom half of the timing belt cover seems to be sweating a bit with oil



Yet Here is where it all drips from, Seems like there is a pool of oil built up inside there or something that it leaks, however to me it doesn't make any sense because if there was any sort of oil inside the timing belt cover, wouldn't the timing belt be covered in Motor OIL??



Here it is all wet of oil here as well





I am not quite sure how she is working that there is oil dripping from her when ever i park it over night


I thought it might be head gasket, however i did a compression test and the numbers were as follows

#1 ; 152PSI
#2 ; 152PSI
#3 ; 151PSI
#4 ; 152PSI

There are all really good compression numbers and every even within each other, so i eliminated the head gasket possibility of leaking.

I checked out the oil dip stick as well, and on the bottom to where it goes inside the oil pan there was bit of dried up oil reside very dirty, didn't seem like it was fresh oil however.
 
MarcoGTTurbo

MarcoGTTurbo

Member +
Hey mate,

Had the same problem with mine.

Get yourself a tin of engine degreaser and give the engine a good clean all around the cam cover and back of the engine. Then grab a tin of carbby cleaner and really get into all the nooks and crannies so you know its 100% clean. Then once the carbby cleaner has all evaporated and dried start the engine and take a good look around with a torch.

Mine was the cam cover gasket. I bought a new gasket and torqued the nuts down correctly to 8nm and the problem has now gone.

Yours looks like the cam cover gasket also.

I cant really see from your photos but if your cam cover has been painted i recon the gasket wasnt replaced when it came off and never got torqued down when it went back on.

just my 2cents worth.

cheers
 
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