Bad Head Gasket?

I noticed some fluid/ greasy substance on some of my suspension components. After looking upward to find the source I noticed it seemed to start around the head gasket by the dipstick. It looks to me like it could be an external head gasket leak, but I don’t have much experience with this.

When I had my oil changed last at a Take5, they noticed my coolant was pretty low. This didn’t throw up any red flags to me because it has been a long time since I did a coolant exchange. My oil looks clean so it doesn’t look like it’s leaking inward too much. Thoughts?

 

Looks like just a valve gasket. Pretty easy fix.

Google images of tacoma 1grefe valve gasket leak and you'll see very similar pictures.

To investigate your concerns about low coolant. Check your oil, does it look like a pink milkshake? Check your coolant, does it look normal? Top off your coolant, and start looking around your engine and hoses, do you see dried up pink residue anywhere? That would be a point for a leak. Have a look at your truck's exhaust, is it pushing out white steam? Do you have any codes thrown?

 

Nope. Oil looks fine, coolant looks fine after it was refilled. No white exhaust. Not running hot. Only symptom I have so far is this leak.

That’s why I posted. Wasn’t sure if this was serious considering I haven’t had any issues whatsoever except the leak.

 

This is an external coolant leak, it leaked in the valley and out the back, typically 1gr has coolant leaks associated to head gaskets, not oil leaks.

Internal coolant leak usually has misfire/hard start in cold mornings.

Internal is harder to diagnose, and if its a slow leak, just top up the coolant for now.

Your pic is 100% just a simple valve cover gasket.

 

Get a new radiator cap and see if that holds your coolant level. They get weak and need replaced over time.

 

Curious, what is the reason for this leak on this specific 1GR? Is it the crossover pipe or an associated O-ring? Thanks.

 

Head gasket failure, coolant was corrosive. This is the only pic but it was leaking down the back side as well.

big reason to do coolant flushes