Massive oil consumption (was: Valve Stem Seals)

[Petros]

the front wheel drive corolla version of the 4A engine has actually a heavier block, with more stiffening ribs. this was a surprise to me, but supposedly this was done to strengthen the block for the transverse mount configuration. It looks more like the higher hp heavier duty 4age block. this is what I have in my Tercel4wd daily driver, everything bolts up in the same places.

[Bug]

Hello. I am new here and this seems to be a similar problem but not the same as mine.
My 86 SR5 is leaking oil out the lower front end of the engine.
At 60-65 it is about a quart/500 mi. At 70-75 it is 3 quarts/500 mi.
I can see the oil on the bottom of the car so it IS leaking as apposed to burning like the rest of this thread.
I can also see that it is below the block up to the front but I cannot get in to see the front to see where it is really coming from.

Any hints or ideas? Petcos this was your gold car. You warned me about this so no bad vibes here. Just trying to figure it out.

[dlb]

3 quarts/500 miles sounds pretty severe. be careful and keep lots of oil with you.

it sounds like it is the front crank seal or front of the oil pan gasket. it could also be the front cam seal but i think that is less likely. if you remove the power steering and alternator belts, you can then remove both the upper and lower timing belt covers. with them off, you should be able to see all of seals and gasket i mentioned.

[marlinh]

You need to remove the front crank pulley as well to get the lower cover off.

[Petros]

Welcome to the forum,

I am sorry that it is leaking so much. This engine got a new rear main seal, and a new front seal and cam shaft seal. It is possible one of the got misinstalled and is leaking, but I have never had a problem of the many hundreds of seals I have installed over the years. So rear or front seal is possibly the source but unlikely.

the other places it could be leaking oil is the fuel pump gasket, or the distributor o-ring, the valve cover gasket or the half moon shaped plug that goes under the valve cover gasket at the back of the head. I used sealant on all of these locations when I assembled the head, but it is possible that one of these is the source (the half moon seal is somewhat troublesome). The fuel pump gasket is another troublesome leaking source, you have a hot engine head at one end and cool fuel coming into the pump from the fuel tank, that will usually leave motor oil all over the fire wall near the heater hoses if that is leaking.

As I recall the leak looked like it was coming from the back of the engine, but it could be leaking from almost anywhere and running to the back of the engine under it. Oil pan gaskets leaks are pretty rare, usually oil runs down from somewhere else and runs around the lip of the oil pan that makes it look like it is leaking. I did not remove the oil pan so I do not know the condition of the pan gasket, though it would be rare if that was leaking, unless a previous owner had it removed and it was mis-installed.

clean off the engine and try and see if you can find the sourse. Also, there are harmless dyes you can put in the oil to help you find a leak. Auto parts stores sell the dyes. Usually once you locate the leak fixing it is easy.

[Bug]

Cool. I am quite sure it is coming from the front of the engine and from a spot I cannot see without removing some parts. I will need to fix another Toyota first and then will get this one. As long as I drive at low rpm's it does fine.

[Petros]

Front of the engine sources of oil would be either front cam seal, front main seal (both were replaced last month), possibly the oil pressure sender unit, behind the alternator (leaks with these are common), or the valve cover gasket. Also, but not as common, is the oil filter seal.

[irowiki]

Update: Replaced the valve stem seals on Pokey, they were shot to the point of practically not being there at all!

Will keep this updated as to if the oil consumption issue is fixed.

In regards to the last few posts, my sedan's oil leak has gotten much worse since it got cold, I'm going to check the valve cover gasket when I adjust the valves, otherwise I'll have to look at the crank seal as suggested!

[marlinh]

I just redid a front crank seal that was leaking on one of my cars. I polished the shaft before installing it and when I put it back together it leaked. I have never had one fail like that, and I have done many of them.

When I took it apart again I noticed a very slight groove far back on the crankshaft. I measured the depth of the groove to where the seal would sit and it matched up. I ended up installing a speedi-sleeve which fixed the problem.

[dlb]

I ended up installing a speedi-sleeve which fixed the problem.

i've never heard of a speedi sleeve so i looked it up. fantastic idea. glad i know about them now.

http://www.skf.com/group/products/seals ... index.html

[marlinh]

I took pictures. I was thinking of posting them in case someone else had to do this job.

[dlb]

yeah, please do post your pics. i'm very interested to learn more about it.

[ARCHINSTL]

I took pictures. I was thinking of posting them in case someone else had to do this job.

Please do the write-up with photos and one of us moderators will make it a sticky in the Repair Guides Forum.
Thanks - a valuable aid.
Tom M.

[marlinh]

I posted the pics in repair guides. Not sure how to link it here.

[dlb]

wow, that seems crazy easy. really cool.

just made it a sticky. here is the link.

https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=9679