My Camry leaking major oil (approximately 1 qt. per 30 miles)

Car: Toyota, Camry, 2001, 2.2L - Back to Fix-It - Toyota Repair Manuals

Q.I have a 2001 Toyota Camry that is leaking major oil (approximately 1 qt. per 30 miles), but it only leaks the oil when the car is running.

The weird thing is, the car has no loss of power. In fact, it seems to be running and accelerating in tip top shape.

Oil seems to be leaking around the engine block, which was why I thought it might be the valve cover gasket.

I thought that the gasket liner around the valve cover might be leaking, so I took the valve cover off, cleaned it up and replace the valve cover gasket. I still have the same leak problem.
My options to look at now seem to be:

1. Engine Blow-By
2. Head Gasket (However, there is no white smoke in the exhaust and it doesn't look like oil is leaking into the coolant or coolant into the oil. The oil is leaking externally, you can see it dripping down onto the exhaust pipe and it is dripping down from the supension.)
3. Sending Unit Leak
4. Rear Main Seal Leak (Although the oil leaks when the vehicle is running)

Answer There is a high pressure oil port that goes through the head gasket, so there is most likely where it blew out considering the amount of oil you are going through. At this point you would want to clean up oil and start it while watching it "preferably put dye and oil and look with blacklight" and you will be able to see where the oil is comming from.
But is most likely dripping from the rear of the headgasket, you will likely need to remove some components to get a better view.

Addition Okay, thanks. At this point I will probably take the vehicle in as I don't feel all that comfortable removing the piston head and timing belt system (never done that before). However, this answer gives me a great place to start with a mechanic. I kind of felt like there was something wrong with the head gasket.
I will tell you that I had the oil changed once and they cross-threaded the plug, causing a ton of oil to leak out. So the car might have run on very low oil for about a week or so until I noticed it. This has been about 4 years ago, and it has had a seepage problem ever since, so I've always kept a close eye on it. This week was when it finally turned into a major problem.

Addition If you can tell me, what does a head gasket job normally cost? It would probably need a new timing belt too, and if there's any damage to the engine components, I would expect there to be some replacements there as well. I know you wouldn't be able to give me an exact figure, so just ballpark it on what you normally see with these kinds of repairs.
Do you think I might have a cracked engine block? If so, I am seriously thinking about purchasing a newer vehicle. I can afford to spend around $1500, but beyond that, I don't even think I could get that in trade-in on the car in good condition. The car has 167,000 miles on it.

More Info required Your best option may be trading it in depending on how much longer you depended on keeping this vehicle and your financial situation or maybe selling it as is. If you have the 2.2 engine it is about a 8 hour job and at least $200 in parts so your looking at around $1100 give or take a couple hundred.

Addition Okay thanks. I may be able to live with something in that price range. I was afraid the price may exceed a couple grand. I'll leave you alone now..

More Info required At least its cheaper then you were expecting.

>>Contribute your Answer<< - Submit your Question

Home Info JDM Chat Free Car For Sale Albums Members Video Bumper Stickers Dealers

Advertisement [ ? ]

Site Links

My Camry leaking major oil (approximately 1 qt. per 30 miles)