87 Camry - oil leak when engine is cold

If leaking from front crank seal or camshaft seals. Some have luck stopping the leak with one the high-mileage oil or stop leak additives that suppose to soften (condition) the hardend seal. Expect a hight labor cost to get to replace the crank seal only. If timing belt requires change out in the near future, might have the crank, camshaft seals changed out at same time.

A front end crankshaft seal is NOT an expensive job. The rear main seal IS a relatively explensive job because the transaxle has to be removed. Cam shaft seats are also not particularly expensive to replace.

Thanks very much folks.

.. I noticed that the drip continued last two days. On checking engine-oil level, it did NOT show any loss, which was confusing. While driving back from gas-station today, I noticed the temperature gauge climbing for the first time. Thinking that I was loosing oil, I stopped, let the engine cool .. and added

- 1 qt of oil & half a bottle of stop-leak-additive. Checked the oil level, and it now showed excess oil ...

While driving about a mile further, the temperature guage climbed up again. Confused, I let the engine cool down and checked the coolant level and ... voila ! I found the problem. All this while, the leak is actually the coolant ! Since it was coming from the oil-pan area and it was dark-brown colored, I thought this was oil .. but I always wondered why it was so thin .. so less viscous.

Anyway .. so here is my dilemma

1) I have excess oil + stop-leak-additive in the car .. is this dangerous ? Should I get an oil change and restore the oil level (I have only 1000 miles since the last oil change, but if that is safer choice .. so be it). 2) There is very little coolant left. Should I add water in it so I can take it to my mechanic ? Or should I just get the car towed ... I do have AAA so towing will be free. The leak is somewhere in the system .. possible a bad hose ... so I will have to get it fixed anyway.

You valuable suggestions are sincerely appreciated.

I would recommend you have the vehicle towed since it's free anyway, rather than take a chance on overheating and warping a head. Depending on how hot it got you could have already warped a head. Since the coolant is brown I would guess the cooling system is overdue for service and have a complete flush, check all hoses and fill with Toyota coolant. I would also have them drain the extra quart of oil from oil pan and not worry about the stopleak as I don't think it will cause any harm. HTH, davidj92

Hello davidj92:

Thanks very much for your reply. Luckily, I had not let the car overheat .. stopped it before way before the needle reached dangerous (red) levels.

I did get the car towed to my mechanic. Bad news for me .. (and to help others on this group who may face similar issues):

- problem is the radiator .. had been slowly rusting so the circulation of coolant had become slow and had been leaking out due to rust and pressure inside.

- so will need to replace the radiator, associated hoses, new coolant etc. Since the timing belt is accessible, my mechanic will also change that. Total cost with parts .. $400 .. is this reasonable ?

BTW, I had the radiator system replaced completely in 2002 (3 years back) at AAA repair shop (yes they have it here in Santa Clara, CA ... and had charged me $700).

My mechanic told me that this would not have happened had I regularly done a coolant flush every year .. oh well. Hope it helps others on the group.

Thanks

$400 for the rad, hoses, coolant, timing belt and labor sounds like a bargain.

He's right about cooling system maintenance. If you just do a drain and refill with Toyota long-life coolant at least every other year you should be fine. Changing every year should only cost appx $20 for parts. I always use distilled water in my cooling system as well. Usually find it for less than $1 a gallon so it's a small cost and a lot less minerals than tap water so less chance of minerals stuck to cooling tubes in radiator. davidj92