Oil Leak -on back of motor

[Crystalion]

Near the firewall
99 Solara SLE which as far as I can tell is a Camry Cousin.

126,000 miles and run like a charm. Now the wife had her oil changed recently and I thought at first it was just leftover.
But last week found a pretty large slick.
Have the car up right now and it looks like its coming from the rear Valve cover or head ?? I just wiped it down and its running in the driveway I'll check it in about 1/2hr. Filter and drain plug are dry.

Are these motors prone for any leaks near the firewall head assembly.

All answers will be appreciated.

[gator2764]

Is it a 4 cyl? If so you might want to check the Dist. My 95 looked like it was dripping from the center of the head as well but it turned out to be the O-ring on the Dist. I even had a mechanic at Goodyear tell me it was the head gasket. They were more than willing to "fix" the problem if I would have shelled out the grand they told me it would cost.

[Mike Gerber]

Gaztor2764,

The SLE models of the Solara usually have the V6 motor in my experience, and his generation of engines no longer used a distributor. They have coil packs, just like the 97 and newer Camrys.

Crystallion,

My guess would be the rear valve cover gasket, but without seeing the car that's just a guess of the most common thing back there that can leak. What did your inspection determine?

Mike

[gator2764]

Originally Posted by Mike Gerber

Gaztor2764,

The SLE models of the Solara usually have the V6 motor in my experience, and his generation of engines no longer used a distributor. They have coil packs, just like the 97 and newer Camrys.

Crystallion,

My guess would be the rear valve cover gasket, but without seeing the car that's just a guess of the most common thing back there that can leak. What did your inspection determine?

Mike

I stand corrected. I usually go to ALLDATA to check these things but I did not this time. I was just going by the same kind of problem I had once.

[Scrapper]

i agree on valve cover also it could be the valve seals and it's coming out and getting on plugs so if you take a plug out see if it's oiley around the plugs not where it fires but on the outside plug itself.

[Crystalion]

It appears to be the rear or I guess you could say firewall side valve cover gasket. Its the only thing that looks wet again, High enough to coat everything thats wet down below -never seen oil go UP unless you blew something under pressure.

Does look like a bitch to get that one off though. Anybody do this job.

The car runs great and yes it is the V6 ( forgot to mention ) I would have never gotten a 4 cyl and its the SLE OOOOHHhhh my wife thinks its cool.

[Brian R.]

Try torquing the valve cover bolts (69 in-lbs). They may only need to be tightened to seal the leak.

[Crystalion]

Originally Posted by Brian R.

Try torquing the valve cover bolts (69 in-lbs). They may only need to be tightened to seal the leak.

They r TIGHT. It has 125K on it and since it got cold here in NY it started leaking. I;m betting they are just like rock. To bad I only have 2 other cars that need some big repairs !!!!