2003 xle 4 cyl, oil light on, fluid leaking
 

Hi all. I have a 2003 4 cylinder Camry XLE. I was just about to get off the highway on my way home from work today when I heard a pop sound come from the passenger side of the car. The oil light also came on at the same time and stayed on. When I got home I saw that there was fluid running down onto the front passenger side wheel. I'm at a loss as to what type of situation I'm looking at. Any ideas? TIA.

here's your situation:

fluid running down onto the front passenger side wheel.

what fluid? oil? brake fluid? ATF? there are NO oil lines anywhere close to wheel wells. ONLY BRAKE FLUID.

please, clarify.

I thought it might be brake fluid at first too but it's too dark to be brake fluid. It looks more like oil. Also I checked all the fluids and everything is at good levels but the when I pull the dipstick for the engine oil it's dry.

If the oil pressure light is on, don't start the engine until you figure out what the problem is.

Open the hood and attempt to find the leak.

One area to look is the lower passenger side of the engine closest to the radiator. Look for a vertical positioned round can (oil filter can). Determine if the leak is from the can.

Also look at the side of the engine facing radiator.

yeah, if dipstick shows nothing, you do not start the engine. brake fluid can get darl also, but it has very distinct smell, easy to differentiate between the brake fluid and engine oil.
I am most curious about pop. Sounds like something under high pressure blew. I am not curious how oil got onto wheel, that's quite irrelevant. moving, air flow sometimes does wierd stuff to fluids.
Is it on the front or back of the engine side? front being where all the belts are, and back being where transmission is connected.
oil filter on those is pointed straight down, so if it popped, or O-seal blew(hmm, that's a plausible one, btw), oil should have gone straight down, not somehow to the side and up onto wheel.
you see, in oil system, there's really not much that can pop. filter, that's about it. rear main seal. maybe front main seal.
that car needs to be jacked up and well investigated underneath.

@toyomoho, I'm definately not going to start the car again until I get this sorted out. I'll take a look at what you mentioned when I get home from work and see if I can spot anything.

@ukrkoz, it definitely smells like motor oil. I'm not sure I follow when you ask if it's on the front or back the the engine side. Anyway I agree that it's looking more and more like the car needs to be jacked up at looked at underneath. If I can't spot anything easily accessible and fixable as the source of the leak I'm not gonna mess with it anymore until I can have it towed to a mechanic.

Thanks for the replies.

reason being, oil filter on newer 2.4L engines is towards the engine front. think engine, not engine bay. engine is positioned sidewise in the engine bay. in my case, filter is more towards the passenger side tire well. I am simply trying to figure out, where the pop leak came form. rear main seal is basically dead in the center of the powertrain. front main seal is right below the belt and pulleys. oil pan drain plug is about oil filter level.
you sure you did not hit something?