Celica Forums General Discussion General Oil leak

Well I just found out that my car leaks oil, Im not sure how much but at least a few drops a day. I haven't even been able to look at it because I found out late tonight.

I checked my oil tonight and I'm just about in the lower part of the oil stick, still in between the two lines. So it hasn't gotten to low yet.

Any ideas what it could be? And I know it could be one in a million different things but I was wondering if it was a known thing that our cars do, like the squeaky belt.

Its late for me so if this doesnt make to much sense sorry

Thanks.

2 types of oil consumption : Burn through the combustion chamber and leak through bad seals.
How many miles on your engine?
Does you car smoke?
Check out if there is any puddle on the ground.

No puddle, No smoke, and 65,000 miles on the engine.

Could be a leaky seal somewhere. You should get underneath the car (put it on ramps; DON'T trust a jack by itself), take off the plastics underneath, and see if the oil pan/lower part of the engine has oil residue on it somewhere. Also check around the water pump area; if the pump is going bad it could be leaking oil.

Can anyone comment about whether the belt tensioner can develop a leak (I don't have any experience with that)?

If it turns out to be a leaky seal, you can probably let it go for while; just keep your oil level up. A leak from the water pump or tensioner should get fixed right away (pump could be going bad). If its just burning oil, you can try running some engine cleaner (Seafoam, or an equivalent) through it and see if that helps. Otherwise, if its just burning oil there's not much you can do, except have some rebuilding work done, or put in a new engine. You can live with it burning oil for a while; might have a problem passing emissions inspection though.

Whatever you do, go put some more oil in it NOW, because these things have a tendency to get exponentially worse as time goes on, and you don't want to kill your engine.

everytime i go to change my oil i find a large oil stain covered with dirt on my lower plastics. But i have never found any residue on my floor, just the platic peice. i make it a point to wipe it down after each oil change, but then it comes back on the next one, so i know i have a leak somewhere. i think it may be the oil pan seal.

Leaks are usually around the timing chain cover.

To fix, have to take out all pulleys from that cover, then remove the cover and reseal with high-temp gasket compound.

Usually costs $300 in labor.