[Supras] help with replacing some gaskets??

[Dan Gyoba]

On 7 Jun 2007 at 18:16, gene lyu wrote:

> Hey all!
> 
>   Apparently I'm leaking some oil, and it's looking pretty serious.  I
>   took it to pep boys and they said they do some oil leak test thing,
>   so I had them do that and they came back and told me I was leaking
>   from the VALVE COVER GASKET, OIL PAN GASKET, and the CAM & CRANK
>   SEAL.  

2 valve cover gaskets.  Absolutely.  Anyone who says otherwise has obviously never looked under the 
hood of the car.

Oil pan gasket:  This is a catch-all when people look under the engine, because no matter where the 
oil comes from, it looks like the oil pan.  Heck it could just be someone being sloppy with the oil 
filter and they'd say that.  Address the other issues, clean the block and then check again yourself.

Cam and crank seals:  Likely these aren't bad, but they could be.  Personally, I think it's more 
likely that the valve cover seals are bad enough that it only LOOKS like those are leaking.  (The 
valve covers tend to leak BAD.)

If you've recently replaced those, it could also simply be that everything needs cleaning.  The 
factory screws that hold those things in are crappy, too, and should be replaced with something that 
will actually HOLD at the earliest possible opportunity.  A regular metric bolt, 6mm X 1mm thread 
pitch, 20mm in length (24 is stock, and it's longer than it needs)  Get 12 of them.  If you can get 
the hex cap screws they look nicer, and you'll be less likely to break stuff when you put them in.  
DON'T OVER TIGHTEN THEM!  You can and will break the cam cover.  Make sure they're tight enough, but 
not too tight.  This is the reason why Toyota put in those stupid aluminium screws in the first 
place!

Now get some good engine degreaser and clean things up so you can see for yourself where the oil is 
coming from, and not have to pay some monkey who probably thinks that the car is front wheel drive 
to do it for you.

Dan Gyoba
'89 NA 450,322 kms, Turbo swap in progress
http://www.abstractconsulting.com/~dan