I'm having oil leaks on my daughters 87 Camry. The VCG and dist shaft o ring have been replaced. It seems to mostly on the drivers side but now there seems to be a small spot near the filter. The VCG was done about 5 years ago so I'm thinking of doing it again. Btw, what's the torque for the VC bolts? Front of the head is dry but the sides and rear are hard to see so not sure.

 

The upper side of the cyl head may have a half moon shape cut out that was used during manufacturing. It would be in the same horizontal plane as the dist hole but for the other camshaft. A half moon plug goes in the hole to fill it. Make sure its not leaking here.

The filter may have an oil cooler mount behind having a gasket between it and the block. Check here for leaks.

The VSC is 17 lbs, Keep retorquing nuts until the torque value stabilizes. If you want to reduce VSC gasket leaks use a sealant. After torquing nuts let the sealant cure before starting engine.

 

Great thanks! Always get good intel from you.

 

I got up today to do this today. It didn't appear that I had any leakage from the half moon area on the distributor side. It's too hard to tell on the other side. But I did take your advice and I did a 1/2 torque on the valve cover bolts and then went back and retorqued and kept rechecking until they got to where the torque wrench would click without any movement. I put rtv in the trouble spots and a light coating on the back side since it looked like that may have been a trouble area. It will sit for 6-7 hour before it is started.

 

It appears that I have stopped some of the leaks but there is still a decent one in the right front engine area. You mentioned a possible oil cooler attachment under the filter. Would it be obvious because i don't remember seeing anything like that. Hopefully I'll get a chance to look at it in a couple of days, she's coming home tues. I'm hoping it's not a HG issue.

 

If the engine has the oil cooler device it looks like a short round can with two coolant hoses running to it. The filter screws onto the threaded nipple of the can. The can attaches to the block with a hollow threaded bolt fitting. There is a gasket between the can and block that sometimes leak but its rare.

To find leaks, you can add a florescent dye to the engine oil that glows under black light.

https://www.google.com/search?ei=RTp...ngine+oil+dyes

 

I found I think the worst leak. It appears to be coming from the bottom of the oil pump at the bottom rear bolts. I put some torque on them with a 6 in wrench as to not break or strip them. I also added some at205. On the bright side, the vcg is not leaking.

 

The pump is mounted to an aluminum housing and sealed with a preformed o-ring.

Bolt torque is 78 in-lbs.

It happens the oil pump drive shaft seal leaks. The oil leak occurs when engine is running as a drip. The constant drip under pressure can result major oil loss when driving. The pump can be taken apart and seal replaced.

 

I can't say for sure that the shaft isn't also leaking but it really looks like it's seeping from around the gasket area at the bottom rear corner. I sprayed everything off really well got everything clean and I don't see anything running down from above it just starts seeping out between those two bolts down in the corner. Let's face it it's going to take the same amount of work to fix either problem so going to have to hold on to this until a little warmer weather and I have more time. It's my daughter's car and she knows to keep a close eye on the oil. I appreciate the information.

 

Just in case, tell daughter to start checking engine after drive. This may seem over kill but have had an oil pump leak a quart after a 20 mile drive. A steady drip, drip when engine on. This on the larger 5SFE engine.