Hey guys.

I have an old 1993 Camry with a V6, it has an oil leak. I am
trying to figure out if it's the rear main seal, the seal retainer, or
the pan gasket. I have removed the exhaust crosspipe and the
transmission brace, cleaned everything up, but it is so tight in there I can't determine which
is leaking. If I can't, I figure I'll just replace the pan gasket and hope
that does it. I hope thats it because I really don't feel like yanking out
the trans for access to the rear seal or it's retainer.

The pan gasket is actually the silicone goop (FIP gasket material) so
I'm thinking it's probably not the problem, as they usually stay
intact, yes? Has anyone actually seen one of these "factory original"
fip gaskets fail?

This car has very low miles, only 45,000 miles original. I know that seals go bad, but I'm hoping that the rear main is still intact. Is this a problem with these engines?

It's the 3.0L 3VZ-FE engine, probably same engine as in the
earlier 4runners.

Anyone got any good suggestions?

Thanks

 

Can you remove the engine rear plate to expose the flywheel then look in at the rear seal for oil leakage.

 

I'm not sure what part you refer to. I did remove what I called the "transmission brace" which is a cast aluminum piece that bolts onto the bellhousing with two 14mm bolts and onto the engine block with 4 12mm bolts. That allows access to the lower 1/4 to 1/3 or so of the flex plate. The flex plate itself is clean. Problem is that the engine oil pan is so doggone close to the flexplate that I can't slip in an inspection mirror along the portion of the pan directly underneath the rear main seal. Off to the side, where the flange of the oil pan makes a turn (the corner of the oil pan nearest the left/rear of the vehicle) I can slip in a mirror there where the holes in the flex plate allow a mirror to fit. This way I can inspect the pan gasket a little bit, but still can't determine exactly where the oil is coming from. It could be oozing right out from that corner, or it could be from the rear/mail seal and wicking over to that area. Or, it could be the rear/main seal retainer, as that part is sealed using FIPG also.

 

Your easier route may be to remove the pan, clean it and reinstall. If the oil still leaks you will know where the location is.

 

My v6 was covered in oil, mom's car, by the time I got to it. Replaced the oil pan seal, removed the transmission braces to see no oil at all.
After replacing valve cover gaskets, spark plug seals needed to be replaced, my friend put it on his lift. We determined after it was in the air and running that it was actually the oil filter adapter. There is an o-ring behind it, that when removed appeared to be ok, but none the less new o-ring fixed that leak. Though now it's something else.
Oil ran down the front of the motor and covered everything, which made me think oil pan.
Hopefully this helps.