Oil leak?

Hey guys, just bought my first Taco. It's a 1998 2.7. Engine was rebuilt 20k miles ago, and I noticed there is oil on the pan.

I'm thinking it's a power steering leak. Anyone know?

 

Gonna be tough to tell from that picture, but that's a lot of fluid. Fluid always travels DOWN and BACK (disclaimer: things that contact serpentine belts and spinning axles need not apply, etc). So trace the leak to the furthest, most-forward and highest spot...and look there.

 

I dried it off and the oil pan gasket is bulged out pretty good and it looks like there was a bit of seepage coming from it. Easy fix? Looks like I'll have to drop the rack and pinion

 

Yeah sounds like you know what needs to be done. Never done it myself, but I'm sure some folks will chime in that have. I think I saw a service manual floating around somewhere...in fact, if I google it, some come up - but they are like .ru sites, so i'm not clicking the links myself haha

 

You seem to be missing the dust cover on your bell housing.

 

What’s it taste like? The gasket is RTV so you will probably see some stuff sticking out the sides, look highest point and especially around the front main and oil pump cover. Those are notorious leak points. Mine leaked there and it went way way back over everything.

 

It could also be a rear main seal leak. I have one on my 3rz that puts oil onto the pan. I put some dye in the oil and used a borescope to find it. Toyota dealer replaced the seal on the pan twice trying to fix it.

 

clean everything and put some dye in the oil and check with a black light