bleeding to death: dripping oil

[badkuk]

Hi All!

After driving for about 30 minutes, oil seems to drip from the engine on my 89 Corolla XL. At first i suspected leaky oil seals, but after bringing it to cheiffy's, e malinis naman daw -- there were some streaks on the timing belt cover were the oil seemed to have dripped, pero ung timing belt mismo e malinis. Off to cheiffy's i go

But wouldn't you know it...pagdating dun e biglang nawala ung drip B). We washed out the engine with gas, ran it at idle for 15 minutes,pero no drip. It seems that the problem manifests itself after the car has been driven for a few minutes.

Right now there are 5 theories: the leak may have come from a.) the oil pan gasket, b.) oil pump, c.) from the bolt on top of the engine, d.) too much oil, or e.) too much revving

Since mabibilang lang sa daliri ung times that i go beyond 80kph, theory e seems unlikely. It's hard to tell if i do rev up too much, since my ride doesn't have a tachometer.

Theory d is a bit remote, 'coz the dipstick tells me the oil is actually closer to low than high, and i've never added any oil since my last oil change(April 2003), and the drip only started last month

On the right side of the engine naman(sa me bandang distributor cap), meron ding tagas...they say it could be the oil seal sa distributor cap. Parang di naman related....

...or are they? hmmm, pwede rin kasing dun nanggaling ung tagas...dunno


Since this problem closely resembles life(not black and white, but multiple shades of gray), any suggestion on how to go about it? i would prefer chieffy's suggestion of going the least expensive route first B).


(salamat pala sa eats, chieffy! dyahe naman masyado B).

[pajerokid]

If the oil pan is dry, the leak is not from the oil pan gasket. Try draining some oil from your block and leave it only at 1/4 level between the min and maximum marks. Hopefully, this will produce less oil pressure and minimize the leak.

With special emphasis on hopefully ;)

[speedyfix]

kung nagbabawas ka ng oil, it doesn't necessarily mean na may leak ka. may engines talaga na kumakain ng langis because they are "loose" na. baka ito lang yung reason kaya ka nagbabawas ng langis. piston rings or improper wear on internal parts could be the culprit but this is hard to pinpoint without bringing the engine down.

my suggestion is kung ok pa yung takbo ng engine, and kung di malala leaks (but you should really have them fixed na), leave it the way it is and add oil regularly nalang to top off the oil in the engine.

hope this helpsÜ

[badkuk]

thanks peeps...i guess old cars n old pcs are the same in that sense...every time me iaayos e me nasisirang ibang piyesa B)

la naman pagbabago sa amount of oil that's leaking...a few drops here and there

the oil seems to be coming from the bolt on top of the (2E)engine (dunno the techie term for that)...after nahugasan ng gaas, nagkaroon uli ng oil stain/streak coming from it.

oil level is halfway between F n E naman, although maitim na maitim na. my uncle recommended a 20/50W oil -- tama ba to?

[orly_andico]

yeah... use a cheap thick oil (that's 20W50) to minimize leaks. this is one case where full-synth is bad :P

maybe it's just a gasket somewhere. the gasket may be somewhat worn so it only leaks when the oil is pressurized (e.g. the engine has been running for some time)

[badkuk]

yah, i read somewhere that synthetics are bad for older, este, more mature cars B).

[badkuk]

just this weekend my uncle's mekaniko checked my brakes...he mentioned that the oil leaks may be caused by soon-to-be worn out piston rings...wala naman daw kasing obvious na tagas, pero kumakain ng langis...and oil seems to be seeping out of the bolt on top of my 2E engine.

possible ba to? the guy isn't exactly a certified toyota mechanic, but he seems to know his stuff quite well.

fyi, wala pa namang blue smoke coming out of the tailpipe, although there is some gunk buildup

[orly_andico]

badkuk,
a compression test will tell you if your piston rings are getting loose. any talyer can do that.

if OTOH your compression test shows all your cylinders have high pressure (dunno the exact figure for a 2E engine, but it should be above 150psi or so) try adding 1 Liter of Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) to your engine oil. this will cause your oil seals to swell and seal if there are leaks.

(it will also safely clean your engine, much more safely than engine flush...)

[effone]

really!!! i never knew that, ATF to your engine?
di ba sa power steering lang ginagamit yun?

[benchph1]

di ba masama pag pinaghalo mo ang ATF tsaka motor oil?

[orly_andico]

ATF is a gentler solution for cleaning engines than engine flush. Did you know that the active ingredient in engine flush is kerosene?

ATF is pretty safe to add to motor oil, it increases the detergency of the oil and lowers its viscosity. In other words, adding 1L of ATF to 3L of ordinary 20W50 motor oil will make the oil more like synthetic oil! (not kidding)

[badkuk]

hmmm....pero won't older engines(like my 2E) have a problem with the resulting(mas malabnaw) oil-ATF mix?

[jeff]

ATF is a gentler solution for cleaning engines than engine flush. Did you know that the active ingredient in engine flush is kerosene?

kapag nag change oil ako puwede ko ba haluan na lang ng kerosene yung oil instead of flushing flluid bago ko i drain?

[orly_andico]

jeff,

yes it's possible. but there is some risk involved. the procedure is as follows:

1) drain 1L of old oil
2) add 1L of kerosene
3) run engine at low speed (1000rpm) for 30min - 1hour until wala nang black smoke

4) let engine "soak" overnight
5) run engine again until wala nang black smoke
6) drain all of old oil+kerosene, replace with 20W50 low-grade oil, replace filter also

7) run car for an hour or so, check if oil is turning black (kasi merong mga naiwan na crap inside the engine)

8) if turns black, replace oil AGAIN

the problem with this method is, kung high-mileage na yung car, there might be parts that are held up only by carbon deposits (e.g. damaged valve seat, the carbon deposits act to "kalso" the damaged valve seat).

using kerosene is quite aggressive cleaning, matatanggal lahat ng carbon deposits. so it might remove the "kalso" also baka merong carbon deposits na maiwan sa loob ng oil channels, which will later cause loss of oil pressure and subsequent engine failure.

kaya the safest bet is, just add 1L of ATF to your next oil change. OR, use full synth oil (same effect, actually safer, pero mas mahal...)

[ian_rex]

bro, if you have the resources then have your engine overhauled. i'm sure tanggal lahat ng worries mo about leaking oil.

thanks!

[badkuk]

i caught BYK101 while channel surfing last night...tessa nieto....mmmmm....


....going back to my point, sabi nung resource person nila that you can discern the condition of your engine(and your fuel mix) by the condition of your spark plugs:

spark plugs are oily -- loose piston rings
spark plugs seem to crystallize -- lean fuel mix
spark plugs are covered in soot -- rich fuel mix


...does this apply to car engines as well?