buying an 06 tacoma but has this oil sweat leak any info?! HELP

Hi so i went and looked at an 06 tacoma tonight sr5 6 speed manual transmission but noticed it had some sweating going on from the valves not sure what to think of it? drove great and the guy said he just had an oil change and oil levels were not low at all but who knows right.. il post a pic with it here that i took i really like the truck but any feed back would be great things too look out for etc truck has 153,000 KM

 

it's most likely the timing chain cover that is leaking it a known problem and pretty simple repair.

 

Gasket leaks are NOT a big deal. Even SEAL leaks are fairly simple to deal with. The main oil loss situation that you really want to avoid, is hidden oil consumption. Oil consumption that hides inside the engine means that you need SERIOUS work, like valve stem seals (if you're lucky), or RINGS, or something horrible to that effect.

 

Ok any way of checking for those issues before buying this or should I just stay away seems like a good deal.... 12k for 06 with 153,000 km

 

Best way to tell if an engine is consuming oil internally is to examine the BODY near/behind the exhaust pipe and back of the vehicle. If it is dumping excess oil, it will have a film in those areas. IMO, highly unlikely on these engines, and nothing I'd be worried about, especially at just 153,000 km, while "old" chronologically, its still pretty new. Heck, my '11 is at 145,000.

The one thing I can say, is that the 4.0 is known for having a few leaks, like that other guy suggested, probably just the timing cover.

 

153km is pretty low for this truck (my 06 has 223km on it with no engine trouble yet). I wouldn't be too worried about internal seals being blown, though obviously doing your due diligence is important. Like said above, gaskets are pretty easy to fix.

 

The main problems I had with mine around the 150km mark were wheel bearings, u joints, and center bearing all going bad within a few months of each other. I do drive a lot of off road though which is pretty rough on those parts. And all are relatively easy to fix

 

Yes probably timing cover leak but be aware unless you do this yourself it's not a cheap repair. Search this forum for that leak and you'll see some estimates at 1,000 + so keep that in mind. Good luck

 

I'll have to take a look at mine now that it could be an issue. I bought an 06 a year ago that had 81,000 miles, very clean and good condition. Thanks for the pics

 

hey where in BC are you from? i live in kelowna looking at getting some tires if u no any spots?!

 

I live in New Westminster currently, but my dad lives in West Bank, so I'm up there often enough!

Depends what kind of tires you're looking for? I want to get bigger ones, so you can buy mine if you want

 

haha no way what tires do you have? selling rims also?

 

Well anything is for sale for the right price

But I wasn't planning on selling my rims.

Tires are 265/75r16 Duratracs and a fullsize Firestone a/t spare. They are around 50% tread. Would give you all 5 for like $550.

But for new tires, depending on what you're looking for, I like to use kaltire just because of the free lifetime balance and rotation if you get your tires done there. Canadian tire has good prices on common sizes. And here in town, North shore off road is good for specific sizes and types, especially for mud tires. I don't know if there's anything good in your area though unfortunately

 

It's likely what others have mentioned, timing cover leaking. Your photos show the problem area, just above the power steering pump. My 2007 had the leak when I purchased it in 2010 with 60+K miles. It was a weep until July of this year, then turned into a hemorrhage with about 1qt/week (truck now has 145k. This was right after a frame swap. Took it back to the dealer (my independent mechanic didn't want anything to do with it) and they quoted me over $2500 to fix it as the whole front of the truck needs to be disassembled. There's a TSB for the know issue and I showed that to the service manager and shamed him into cutting me a break, but it still cost me over $1700. Unfortunately, the leak reappeared after only three months and it's now back at the dealer. The service advisor I'm working with just called me about an hour ago and gave me a song and dance about how they were investigating the source of the leak with colored dye and the technician feels it may be coming from some area other than the timing cover (sure, sure).

My 2-cents; don't necessarily let it scare you away from buying the truck, just keep in mind that you may be staring at an expensive repair down the road.

Good luck!