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Burning oil...? Faulty exhaust manifold gasket?

Hi there. I have a 1990 Celica ST that may be burning oil. It doesn't seem to be burning the oil too badly because I have not noticed any significant loss of oil when I check the dipstick. However, I sometimes can smell burning oil when I have the vehicle running and the hood is up.

When I originally received the vehicle (which had been sitting, unused for SEVERAL years), I noticed that there was smoke coming from the exhaust manifold (from where the manifold meets the next pipe in the exhaust system). I was thinking of replacing this gasket in hopes that it would help my vehicle to not be so noisy and to also solve the issue with the burning oil.

Particularly, I was wondering how difficult of a task this would be. I would not exactly consider myself experienced in the area of car repair but after checking my Chilton's manual, it appears that all I would have to do is purcahse a new exhaust manifold gasket kit, unbolt the exhaust manifold, remove the hold gaksets, attach the new ones, and bolt the manifold back in place. Doesn't seem to complicated to me. Would anyone recommend I do it myself or should I take it to a repair shop?

THANKS!

Reply to
omnineko
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The hardest part will be gettingn the rusted nuts and bolts off. Be prepared to spend time cutting off rusted bolts and replacing them with new ones. BTW, an exhaust gasket will not stop an oil lek.

Reply to
Ray O

It is NOT the exhaust manifold gasket. It could be the valve cover gasket, which seals oil inside the valve cover that is immediately above the exhaust manifold.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

BTW, an exhaust gasket will not stop an oil lek.

.. or start one.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

How hard would it be to replace the valve gaskets?

Reply to
omnineko

Not very hard. Remove the hardware on top of the valve cover, remove the valve cover, peel off the old gasket, install the new gasket, and put everything back together. The trick is to tighten the bolts on the valve cover in a cross-star pattern a little at a time and evenly. Do not over-tighten the bolts on the valve cover or you will crush the new gasket, causing it to leak.

Reply to
Ray O

I'm willing to bet the bolts are loose. Best thing to do is tighten them to torque spec, or just tighten them carefully!

I frequently have to tighten the nuts on my Twin Cams, and my Corolla is only on it's second gasket (1985 Corolla GT-s) in 260,000 miles!

Reply to
Hachiroku

That's VALVE COVER gaskets. It's pretty easy.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

Seen a Supra?!?! I'm waiting, cause I'm gonna do the Valve Cover Gasket and the plugs and wires all at once, cause if I have to take half of the engine apart...

Reply to
Hachiroku

Its not bad on that 7mge. You can leave the throttle body connected to the intake connector when you remove it from the air intake chamber.

But be forewarned there could be a huge amount of liquid trapped under that head cover #3 in the plug holes. Once the #3 cover is off a shop-vac can suck it all out so you can remove the plugs.

You will need a little sealer for the four spots on the head at the cam bearing caps and some locktight for the threads of the #1 & 2 head cover screws or they will back out.

If the heater hose bracket that's bolted to the #3 cover has made the oil galley plug loose it would look just like a valve cover leak. (totally fooled me) It might be worth checking before hand.

GL Dan

fwiw: I have had bad luck with non OEM spark plug wire caps properly. grrr

Reply to
Danny G.

intake connector

head cover #3 in

can remove the plugs.

bearing caps and some

galley plug loose it

checking before

LOL! I had 'bad luck with Champion plugs in a .....1978 Corolla 1200!!! Damn thing wouldn't start below 50 degrees!!!! Switched to NGKs...No Problem.

Think I'd learn? I replaced the cap and rotor with genuine Filko parts (I don't even think they're in business anymore!) in my 1980 Corolla SR-5 Coupe in 1984. I DID use NipponDenso U-Grooves this time! In an Ice storm on Friday evening rush hour in Hartford the car stopped running. I called a service dep't in E. Hartford and told him what happened. He said, go out and pull the cap, and tell me how many little brass balls are in the bottom of the distributor. Um, a few. The rotor had disintegrated. Luckily, one of his drivers saw my car on the highway and he gave a cap and rotor to a salesman and my fiancee picked it up. Nice.

The only time I have EVER used anything but Toyota since was in an '85 Celica GTS I bought 4 years ago, and they were the 'best' set from a CarQuest where I was working, and they held up pretty well. Other than that, on anything but a BEATER, I get Real Toyota parts!!!

Reply to
Hachiroku

intake connector

head cover #3 in

can remove the plugs.

bearing caps and some

galley plug loose it

checking before

Just out of curiosity, what do you have? You seem to know a pretty good amount about this car!

Reply to
Hachiroku

intake connector

head cover #3 in

you can remove the plugs.

bearing caps and some

galley plug loose it

worth checking before

Mines a 1987 (7MGE) model. It's parked in my garage most of the 19 years. At 110,000 miles its been a very good car for me Shoot even the original distributor caps still good. 8)

Bye the way, about that oil leaking on your exhaust. If it's a mystery leak you can not seem to figure out running down the bellhousing there is a good chance its not the valve covers.

The 14mm allen head plugs holding the center head cover on are also oil galley plugs. The rear one has a heater hose bracket attached to it. If that's loose it will leak oil and look just like its the valve covers.

If you don't have a 14mm allen then a bolt, couple nuts (14mm heads) and a wrench will work.

Dan

Reply to
Danny G.

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