Oil Leak, Front of 3.4L V6 Engine, Came on Fast. Opinions Please!

When i did the rear main on my 3rz i just drained it into a bucket and poured it back in after i was done. The oil only had like 1k miles on it

 

No oil doesn'thave to be drained

 

Check your camshaft seals too. Mine were seeping for a while, now they are fucked. You should be able to check these without removing anything, just check between the valve covers and the timing belt cover. If they are leaking badly, you will see some indication. As everyone else mentioned, it sounds more like your crank seal. The seal is easy to replace, but it is involved to get to.

 

Thanks M-Jon - Thought it might be above the level of the front main seal. Of course, I'm hoping it's the man seal and not the oil pump.

Thanks LANCE - I renewed those two water pumps ago. I know how to get to that seal. Just a Pain in the arse!

 

Update: It was the crank seal. Either I didn't seat it well when I installed it, or it had pushed, somehow:



Note that the bottom of the seal is not seated.

I also had some difficulty removing the crankshaft timing pulley (gear / sprocket). That's covered in this thread:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...aft-timing-sprocket-on-3-4l-v6-5vz-fe.473224/

A big THANK YOU to you guys, for all of your help!!! I am humbled by your willingness to assist

 

Pushed the seal out

 

Is this a common problem?

 

I dunno, the only thing, I think, that could actually push it out if seated correctly would be excessive crank case pressure build up. PCV should be able to handle that though. Unless it's plugged up. How's yours?

 

PCV... What's that?

Seriously, that's a great question. I cannot even recall where it is, which gives you some idea of how long it's been since I looked at it.

 

Same thing happened on a 4runner we used to have. All that work for a $15 part...

 

I better double check that your engine has one. PCV valve, positive crankcase ventilating valve. Or something like that.

Edit: Yeah you do have one, part number is

$19 12204-62010 PCV Valve Sub-Assembly

12204-62010. It's a pretty common part to replace as PM. I'm not sure if it being plugged would cause a crank seal to move or not. Just crossed my mind is all.

 

I ordered the PCV valve, which arrived today. I tried to remove the old one to check it a couple of days ago, but the stem on the valve immediately broke. Prior to breaking it, I was driving with the oil fill cap loose, to eliminate pressure in the crankcase, hoping to avoid blowing out the front main seal I had just replaced. Since breaking the PCV valve, I've been driving the truck with the vaccum hose that was connected to the PCV valve taped off with duct tape.

The engine has been making a rattling sound, since I got it back together, following the seal change. I had dropped one of the lower fan shroud clips into the bottom of the fan shroud where I could not get retrieve it, and I assumed the clatter was the fan contacting the loose, lower shroud. Today, I picked up a new clip from the stealer and installed it. There was no change, and upon closer examination, it seems the noise is coming from behind the timing cover. It's hard to tell. So this noise had been going on for about five days and today, after a high-speed roundtrip of about 150 miles, a whining began. At first, I thought it was an electronic whine, like when you have noisey plugs or a bad alternator, but after turning off the radio, I found that it's something mechanical. Here's a video.

 

Almost sounds like a piece of the belt torn and flapping around. Try pulling pastic tbelt cover off and turn motor over . To inspect the belt.

 

Broken timing belt tensioner


I know just when. It broke: it was when I was retracting the tensioner with the specialty tool. There was a loud SNAP! but I thought it came from the tool. The belt seemed nice and tight.

What I don't understand, is how I made it a couple of hundred miles, much of that tarveling at interstate speeds. : A guardian angel, perhaps?

 

I had the same thing happen to my wife's Odyssey. It should have destroyed itself when the belt skipped but by some stroke of luck it was completely fine. No bent valves or anything!

 

Update to this story...

After figuring out where the rattling noise was coming from, I replaced the timing belt tensioner. Instead of replacing the entire bracket/wheel/pulley/bearing assembly, I removed the pulley/wheel/bearing from the broken one on the put it on the new bracket, reserving the brand new pulley/wheel/bearing for the next time.

I then reassembled everything, only to discover I still had some kind of noise, which I decided *must* be the fan pulley bracket, which I think is carrying the same 230k miles as my truck.

So I ordered a new "Aisin" FBT-004 (fan pulley bracket) from Ebay for $103 and installed that. Here's the link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aisin-FBT004-Fan-Pulley-Bracket-/262846979476

I was able to install that without having to remove the bottom timing cover, which was nice. However, I still have some noise that I cannot assign to anything but that BRAND NEW "AISIN" bracket. There's a reason for the " " 's I'm using: Having read about fake/counterfeit Aisin parts on this site and others, I did some research and found this link (look several posts down on the page - there are some BIG PICS): So I email the seller and say I'm concerned I may have purchased a counterfeit part from him, and he says he purchases directly from Aisin. That was yesterday, and I've not yet replied to him, but I HAVE called Aisin America, where a woman told me AISIN DOES NOT SELL TO ANYONE OTHER THAN OEM! I'm confused as hell There are hundreds of Aisin items on Amazon and ebay. Are they all fake?

Sheesh...

Anyone??
I'm about to go start loosening belts, to see if I can isolate the bearing sound I'm hearing


NBUK

 

Did your replacement look as "off" as the one in the 4Runner link?
A stethoscope works well to listen in on the fan bracket bearings.
Aisin has an "aftermarket" parts catalog, I think that woman is confused. Not saying there are not some fakes out there.
http://www.aisinaftermarket.com/English/faqs.php

I have a bearing removed from an OE bracket and there are no identifying marks, brands, names or numbers at all, unlike the "Koyo" described in the 4Runner link. Also the bearing is behind seals and not visible from the outside.

 

Yessir, DP! I've read your post(s) regarding this several times. I wish I'd have taken a few pics of that pulley bracket, before installing it. I did take a couple today, of it installed. Mine has that white ink on it, as did the one above in the 4-Runner forum:



Not clear is this is genuine or not, but it IS NOT the source of my noise, meaning my old one probably still had some life left in it.

What I discovered, is that either my AC Clutch bearing or my AC tensioner pulley is going out. Not sure, but I THINK it's the tensioner. Strange that should be going , along with all of this other stuff.

BTW: Forgot to mention earlier - and I SHOULD mention this, since this thread started regarding a failed main crank seal - that I did change my PCV valve and hose, after breaking out the dried up carcass of the old one.