Oil leak, got worse after changing oil

Hi,

I have a 1996 toyota tacoma. I got it a few months ago. Noticed an oil leak on the ground a few days after getting it (yeah, youd think i would have looked for that before i bought it, but i didnt) after driving it about 30 miles to work, and letting it sit for 8 hrs id come back out and the spot on the ground would be about the size of a quarter. Was coming from the front left of the truck. I went under there and its too hard to tell where its coming from seems to just be dripping from the metal cover under there. If open the hood and look its all clean up top.

So i take it in to get the oil changed, hoping it was a loose filter. The day i drove it home the leak got worse, now its the size of a baseball on the ground after driving it and letting it sit til i get off work. Id say it goes through a quart in about a month of driving. This happened the same day i got the oil changed. I looked at the filter, there isnt a drop coming from it. No oil coming from the oil pan bolt either. The only change that was made was i put a new radiator cap on. They told me my old cap was not sealing, so it wasnt allowing the fluids to get up to temperature so i replaced it that same day.

Could it be, that putting a new cap on that is now forcing the fluids to circulate better in the engine, so now the leak is worse? Sounds stupid to me, but theres no doubt after the oil change the leak got 10 times worse. Any ideas why that would be, or where the leak that bad in that area would be coming from? Miles on the truck is 265K, i have no idea what the previous history of maintenance is on it either. I love this truck, but made a stupid mistake by not getting a carfax ran. The odometer says 90K (even though it has 265K) and i got a fake receipt from all the so called work that was done to it from a shop that doesn't exist. Lesson learned....always run a carfax. All i can do now is try to pick up the pieces. Thanks guys.

 

Did they replace the crush washer on the drain bolt? and check to see if the filter is tight.

 

the filter is tight, no oil coming from it or the drain bolt.

 

Where is it coming from?

 

Cant tell, oil is all over the bottom of the engine. I guess i will have to wash it off and figure it out. Its tough though cause its coming from the bottom of the engine.

 

My guess is timing chain cover or oil pan.

 

the guy that sold me the truck gave me a false name, he disconnected his cell phone after the sale (he used a throw away cell phone) and his address belongs to a house that is vacant. The person who is on the title was not him (he said he was selling it for his grandpa). The only thing good that came out of this is the title was not salvaged, and the vehicle is not stolen. the truck runs great, just has an oil leak and high miles. I have bought and sold many motorcycles in my time, i know better just got caught up in the fact that this car is hard to find where im at, it was everything i was looking for and he of course was in a hurry, so i fell for it. I even met him in a parking lot to look at it and do the deal. Stupidest thing ive ever done.

 

degreaser and brake clean on the bottom

 

Use brake clean to get the oil off. And make sure you get it ALL off. You can put a tracer dye in the oil and it might help you to pinpoint where the leak is coming from. Check the oil pan, the timing cover (which is two gaskets, one on each side), your front and rear main seals. It probably wouldn't hurt to take the skid plates off either while doing so.

 

Did you change to synthetic oil?

 

They probably put in some straight 50 or higher so the leak was small until you put in some thinner oil.

 

Also this ^^ Synthetic oil can swell the seals if it's always used conventional. Stick with one oil and don't change.

 

Use the wal mart super tech oil, but get a top of the line filter. Your engine is just changing its own oil for you. Every time you gas up, just top the oil off. You'll never have to do an oil change again. Lucky you.

 

The guy i bought it from said he used synthetic, but i know now hes a liar so no telling what was used. What they put back in was not synthetic.

It was probably really thick oil put in there so the leak was small, now that the right type of oil is in the leak is bigger. That makes sense.

 

what engine do you have unless i missed that?

 

Sell it. How can the odometer say 90,000 miles and you say 265,000?

 

Try running a thicker grade oil in it. 10W40 or 20W50

 

x2

its probably the rear main seal though, that is a common thing with the 3.4L V6 at high mileage.

edit: and don't try to mask the problem with different oils and such, fix it right or don't fix it at all.

 

3.4L V6

 

The guy that sold it to me rolled back the mileage, or bought another speedo for it. It says 95K miles now, but when i took it to have the oil changed the guy there said oh ive seen this truck come in before....ahh did you know it had 260K miles on it last time we did the oil service about 6 months ago? ( he was looking in the computer when he told me).

I dont know about these cars, but i know you can go down and buy speedo's for other cars and just plug them in and it will display the last mileage since its kept in the speedo itself. I would guess it would be the same for all cars. This guy i bought this from was pretty good at this stuff, he must have done it for a living. Like i said before he had a receipt with alot of work done on it for maintenance (timing belts, brake pads, alternator, ect. ect.) totaling about $1500 from a shop that doesnt exist. He must have had a pad of those made up somewhere. He just filled out the top, and gave you the copy to make it look like a legitimate receipt. I should take a photo and post it.

The car was spotless when he showed up, its still a really nice looking truck. Only problems is an oil leak, and alot of miles. I paid top dollar for a high mileage truck. Id say he got me for about 2-3 grand more than it was worth. I was seeing trucks with 260K up to 300K in good condition going for around 5K in the oregon area. I paid $7800, thats about the going rate for a car in nice condition with that low of miles (90K) (1998 Toyota tacoma V6 4x4 with extended cab)

I would consider selling it, but I would loose alot of money at this point. It would be hard to explain how the truck says it has 95K but really has about 265K on it. That would look pretty shady, right off the bat id loose about 3 grand just for the mileage.....probably another grand because it just looks like a shady deal. Id rather just keep it til it dies someday.