Leaking a lot of oil

Tiny
SWEET1SURRENDER
  • MEMBER
  • 1998 TOYOTA CAMRY
  • 174,000 MILES
Underneath front right tire or close. The car is all the sudden leaking puddle of oil. We cannot see the source.
Car has been behaving like there is no problem, and now the dip stick is showing it down to the tip, so of course we put a quart in. Now there is oil under the motor like it has been splashing from some where.
Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 AT 6:37 PM

1 Reply

Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 33,737 POSTS
We aren't going to be able to solve this because we can't see it. If you don't want to get a mechanic involved, since the leak is apparently bad enough you might ask at the auto parts stores that borrow or rent tools if they have a smoke machine. They run on the car's battery and produce a white, non-toxic smoke at 2 psi. You can inject that smoke into the dipstick tube, then watch for where it sneaks out. That will work fine for non-pressurized areas like the oil pan and valve cover gaskets. It might not work if the leak is from a pressurized area that requires the engine to be running. Passages after the oil pump are the suspects there, but there aren't many that will leak oil outside the engine.
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Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 AT 10:01 PM

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