1986 22R (carburetor version) Oil leak repair step by step

[Benjamin Daubert]

Hi everyone,

I am new in this forum. I am not a mechanic, but I've decided to start learning to repair my cars by myself.
I own a 1986 Toyota 22R 4WD Pick-Up (this is the older model that has a carburetor, not the 22RE).

Right now I have the problem that the engine has several oil leaks. I suspect that the oil leaks come from the head gasket, from the front main seal of the oil pump, and from the oil pan. I want to fix the leaks, but my idea is to follow a certain procedure in order to do that. I am going to post my procedure and doubts step by step in this thread, so that there are not too many questions at a time. I thank you in advance for your interest and responses, and at the same time I hope that this might be also useful for other people.

The first step that I want to undertake is to clean the dirty engine, in order to be able after a few days to see exactly the spots where the oil leaks from. There is old and fresh oil spilled everywhere, and since I am using the truck on a farm, is has also a lot of old mud, that mixed together with the oil over the time and got stuck on different parts of the front differential and the engine. I leave you a picture of what the motor looks like under the hood, and one from the ground.

And here is my first question:
- there are a lot of cables everywhere around the engine. In a car supply shop someone told me that I should place the cables first into another place by extending them, putting them behind the engine, and putting them together into a harness. They told me that the cables should be out of the way when cleaning the engine, because the electric circuits might get damaged when water is applied under high pressure. I still don't have too much knowledge about the electric circuits, or about the process to fix this 'cable salad'. Do you have any tips or recommendations, or do you know a good website or manual where this job is explained? Or is there a way to clean the engine even with leaving the cables like that?

Best regards,
Benjamin

[Benjamin Daubert]

Good afternoon,

here is now an update of my thread. I went to a place where they cleaned the engine of the car, and it is now pretty clean. They just covered the fuses, the distributor and the coil with plastic bags, and then they removed all the old oil and mud with degreaser and then water under pressure. I attach a picture of what the engine looks now like.

My next step will now be to change the front main seal of the crankshaft pulley, since the oil seems to leak there most. In order to do that, I found a video that shows the procedure of replacing the front main seal of the crankshaft pulley, and the O-ring that sits at the connection of the timing cover with the oil pump. It also shows the 'starter bump method' in order to loosen the bolt of the crankshaft pulley. I attach the links. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eozfLpEJds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkeD...osVxY&index=11

I noticed that there is still a spot of oil right above the water pump, and I also noticed that the engine oil has 'dipstick gas smell'.

Now here I have the following questions:
1. Does anybody have experience with the 'starter bump method' to remove the crankshaft pulley bolt? Is it a safe method? Or do you know a much better method?
2. The manual says that I have to remove the oil pan before removing the crankshaft pulley, but this is not necessary, right? Actually I want to replace the oil pan gasket plus the oil change in the end, when I found and fixed all the oil leaks.
3. Why is there 'dipstick gas smell'? The smell is not strong, but noticeable. Also, the engine oil has a little bit less viscosity than normally. I noticed that when the exhaust pipe is close to a wall when I start the engine, it leaves a dirty black spot at it. What is the reason of that? May it be worn out piston rings?

Thank you very much in advance for your comments and recommendations.

Kind regards,
Benjamin

[fredjacksonsan]

👍.