2001 3.4L V6 oil Leak- Cam Seal?

Hey Guys!
I am back to work on my "new" Tacoma. I am going to get the timing belt/ water pump done soon but I found this oil residue all around the front left valve cover and the inside curve of the intake plenum.

Do you guys think it is the Left cam seal? Or can it just be the valve cover? It is pretty high on the valve cover to be just the VC gasket. Maybe just a bad cap?
(Please say bad cap. Please say bad cap.)

 

Looks like the value cover in imo it's easy to swap out your self with a couple basic tools and the gusset isn't to pricey

 

I would say bad O ring on the cap. Clean the oily residue off with some brake cleaner, check at every fueling to pinpoint the leak. But you could just go ahead and get a new O ring for the cap and see if that fixes it.

 

Cap

 

Might want to check the torque on the valve covers. It is common on the 3.4L for the bolts to come loose and the valve covers to start leaking. I think the torque is 13ft-lb but not 100%.

 

Thanks guys.

Thanks! I will try this first. Cross your fingers.

This will be my 2nd option if the cap doesn't fix it.

I may try to swap out the gasket on my own if the cap and torquing it down doesn't get it.

 

Torque is 4.4 ft lbs. And those bolts should never have a torque wrench or even a socket wrench on them! Unless you want a cracked valve cover... Best to use a 10mm nut driver.

 

Sorry. Yes, 53 lb-in is it.

Not sure how a torque wrench set to the correct torque would crack the covers. I did it. Everything came out just fine. The leak stopped.

 

I'm just throwing caution to the wind. I'd say a decent amount of torque wrenches out in most folks garages are mis-calibrated. Not only that, most(especially cheap models) aren't minimally capable of an accurate low IN-LB setting. The susceptible VC bolts most prone to being over-torqued and causing a cracked vc are the DR-side bolt between the oil fill cap and timing belt cover and on the mirrored bolt of the Pass vc near the firewall. I've seen three cracked VC's from those two bolts within the past few years due to slight over-tightening. Oem vc's arent cheap.

 

Quite the opposite. Sounds like you have some experience that warrants the caution.

I bought a SK in-lb torque wrench because I started finding more and more jobs requiring in-lb torque. With what you're saying, sounds like it is an invaluable addition to the toolbox.

Thanks for catching my bad recollection. Hope it helps the OP.

 

I definitely need to buy an in-lb wrench. Sounds like a good reason for a new tool.

 

If your going to do the timing belt its common practice to just replace the cam seals and crank seal and doing the valve cover gaskets qnd you wont half to worry about any leaks for some time

 

Thanks. I will replace the seals while I am in there. I will try to find an easy way to get them out on here

 

Worth ten times its weight in gold

 

I haven't replaced any seals or VC gaskets in 144k.... just sayin'.

also @wkbogie I agree with the oil filler cap, or overspill (I've spilled more than a few drops and it looked like that). also I did lose my filler cap on my trip from WV to home. didn't splash much at all really and oil level was still normal

 

Ditto that...

 

Swapped the oil cap and no more leaks! You guys saved me a bunch of time. Now on to the water pump and timing belt...

 

Gotta love how simple some of the fixes for Tacomas are.

 

Dont jinx it

 

Bahaha! If you only knew how superstitious I am.