Oil Leak, Possible Head Gasket Problem Options

[bobh]

Hi Folks, Hello to Everyone on the forum,
I,m A newcomer,and last week bought a 1993 Celica 2.0l GT,which by the way is superb in Black,A few jobs need doing but my main concern is,there is a oil leak on the front right of the engine,it starts lower down from the rocker cover gasket,looks like from the head gasket I,ve been told,there is no water in the oil and no oil in the water and yet the oil leak was put on the advisory note on its last MOT which was last September 5000 miles ago,the engine otherwise is running quiet ,no rattles or knocks ,it has done 123.000 and the cambelt was changed at 116.000,Can anybody tell me if this is a head gasket replacement and can anybody tell me what the average cost of doing it would be,I,m not a mechanic
Best Regards to you all
bobh

This post has been edited by bobh: Jun 11, 2011 - 4:56 AM

[m4dm4n]

Put your car up on ramps front first, engage the handbrake and stick a brick under the rear wheels (or up on a mate's car hoist if you know someone with one of these). Best to start with a cool engine (i'll explain soon). Get underneath the front of the car and remove the plastic tray if you still have one of these bolted underneath. Wear eye protection. Clean as much oil and oily sludge from your engine bay as you can, start from the top, finish from the underside.

The engine should be cool before proceeding. Once it's clean, try to dab away as much cleaning fluids as you can then take it off the hoist or back it off the ramps and switch off the engine. If possible (and if your garage floor is anything like my last one was) slide a sheet or cardboard or lay a reasonably clean towel sized rag underneath the front end, flat. Wait 10-15 mins. Pull out your cardboard sheet/ old towel and look for any fresh oil, taking note of where it would have fallen from in relation to your engine. If there's oil, hoist it up again (or drive it back onto the ramps)... you should be able to find your leak(s).

If there was no oil, start the engine and let the engine idle for 10 mins or if you want take it for a drive... some leaks might not show themselves for hours or days. If you see oil after it had been cool then idling for a few minutes, it could well be the oil pump gasket. You should be able to hoist it up and find it if there was oil at this point, otherwise check again in a day or two for fresh oil deposits in the engine bay.

I had a leak I just couldn't find that was bothering me for weeks. Had the car up on a hoist cleaning it, then it sat with the engine off while we talked crap in the shop. Started the engine, talked more crap then noticed the puddle of oil as I backed out of the garage. Turned out to be oil pump and valve cover gaskets, and a loose valve cover (didn't know they become loose after a while???). Needless to say, we replaced the oil pump/gasket, water pump/gasket, valve cover gasket and timing belt while we were at it.