Small leak, need opinions.

Hi there,
I have a 2013 Tacoma with 73,000kms. Noticed a oil spot on the garage floor today and looking for opinions for what it could be.
It’s on the driver side. It’s brown for sure. I spilt some oil along the frame in aug while doing an oil change. Here are the pics.

 

with the amount of oil blotted on your driveway,should be somewhat easy to retrace the source thru ur engine bay with a good light source

 

Is your oil filter snug? Gasket seated? If you did an oil change and the filter is weeping it will drip down that side of the engine from the drain under the filter cup thing.

 

Filter is snug, no leaking from that area that I can tell. I will double check. I did the oil change in aug and have had no leaks until recently

 

check ur power steering fluid level, and trans fluid level,brake fluid

 

All levels are perfect

 

I had a tight filter work loose in a Dodge 3500 a few years back. made a really big mess, but I caught it before damage was done.

 

I can't stand leaks! Like if you come to my house and your shit leaks park in the road type of shit. I used to travel for work and had a company vehicle so my truck stayed parked for months at a time and my wife would start it once a week. My buddy asked to borrow it and I told him no as I just do not loan out my truck. Long story short I would get home off the road and find a spot on my driveway under the truck. Over 6 months I traced it and looked but could find nothing. Got to the point where I was just going to sell the truck because I was over it. I texted my buddy and said hey I am selling my truck if you know anyone who wants to buy it. He replied with "damn, I was in the market 3 months ago and figured you would have sold it by now because I have been dumping used oil on top of your frame rail for at least 6 months now.

I called and expressed how much I hatted him and hung up the phone laughing.

 

Ya man, I can’t see where it can be coming from. I guess maybe only the filter and drip surround. I lost the nipple a couple of oil changes ago, no issues previously.

 

Replace the filter on the off chance its warped, gasket bad etc.. clean the mess and see if it returns. Total cost <$10

 

I think this is the route I’m going to test first. We’ve had some crazy cold days here lately this week (-52C), so maybe that has something to with the filter warping

 

Sorry to hear about your trouble this morning...I'm wondering if you're using conventional oil or synthetic? There has been some discussion here and other sites about the 4.0L engine and the type of oil used. Sorry - it is not my intention to bring up a new debate on oil....my intent is and was to help! Check out the video....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSjrIwYpu2w

 

haha. The mental warfare your buddy was playing is impressive.

 

I’ve used synthetic for 6 years and no issues until last night/today

 

Interesting...I've used Mobile One on a 5K change interval, and (fingers crossed) no leaks through 90K miles. But I'll try switching to conventional (with 3K mile intervals) if I develop leaks.

 

It should fairly obvious if the oil filter is leaking... You cant trace where its coming from if you crawl under there with a good light?

 

Check the timing cover OP. That is a known leak point for the 4.0. I would do the filter thing first. If you lost that little nipple those things can weep for a while after a change.

 

It’s probably the case but it’s hard to say for sure. I spilled oil during last oil change and wasn’t able to get to every spot to clean it up so there may be some residual. Also my my filter housing appears to have some oil in it (not much)

 

Ya, I will try filter very shortly. Also see if they have the nipples in stock. I park in my garage at home but have been working nights and parking outside in the extreme cold the last 4 days, the leak has just shown up in these last few days

 

Your pictures make it look like more than just a spill. But at any rate, use some brake cleaner to clean the little catch basin thing under the oil filter.. Should make it pretty easy to check for leaks a few days later