total1

1997 ES300; 135K miles
I have an ES300 that's experiencing some oil dripping that appears to be coming from the oil pan but maybe some other 'common' areas.
1) Which seals/gaskets should be replaced without doing the entire engine seals/gaskets? I got a quote of $40 to 'find' the leak via an additive but I'm not keen on paying $40 for the 'same' problem that exists on other older ES300's
I've used Mobil 1 Extended Performance with the Mobil 1 EP filter since I purchased the care at 67K about 3 years+ ago. There seems to be about 1/2 quart loss/drippage every 8K+ miles.
2) Is an oil additive suggested or workable here?
TIA!

CUMan

You can't assume that just because oil leaks from the back of the oil pan that this is the location of the leak. I have had a number of leaks on the passenger side of our 94 ES that showed up at the back of the oil pan. These included leaks involving the various seals inside the timing belt cover. It seems that the layout of the engine causes the oil to drain back and down, ending up at the rear of the lower oil pan.

Common oil leaks on this engine involve the front and rear valve covers, rear main seal, and the seals under the timing belt cover. I have also had leaks involving the power steering hoses which can easily be mis-diagnosed as oil leaks.

The 3 liter aluminum block Lexus (and Toyota) V6 is a great engine, but is very prone to oil leaks as mileage accumulates.

01LEXPL

iTrader: (10)

There's far too many to call it. Mine is experiencing the odd drips throughout the day as of now.

But my whole motor is 'sweaty' always was since ~75k when it was purchased [at 139k now].

I bought some valve cover gaskets which need to be done as well as a lower oil pan gasket 'just because'

I'm not going to bother ever with the rear-main seal since its a labor-wh0re 25$ part, hours in labor same with the upper pan, you need to move/drop everything to get to it...

As mentioned above it may be the power steering too...

BDSL

Shampoo the entire engine. Then drive the car around for 10 minutes. Then jack up the vehicle and look for the leak.

MikeLex

Best bet -> rear valve cover gasket

CUMan

Agreed. It has always seemed logical to me that this gasket would be troublesome because of the slant (to the rear) of the engine.

My 94 ES, with about 175,000 miles, has had this gasket replaced at least twice during its lifetime. Unfortunately, it is a lot more difficult to replace this gasket than the front one.

total1

THANKS for ALL the responses... Cleaning the engine is an excellent suggestion!

I probably look into replacing the rear gasket cover and the oil pan gasket for now and maybe a rear seal depending on $ but it appears this is a high labor area. The power steering isn't leaking so we're fine with that.

Not too sure I'll do the timing bell seal as I'm not in the mood to replace the timing belt at this time. The costs for replacing the others will be checked into to see if it's in the budget now.

I presume I can replace the rear gasket cover and the oil pan gasket and not anything else. Then when I need another oil change replace the others (non-timing belt).

mitmaks

I had mechanic do rear main seal on our 96es300 last year. He also discovered leak on the oil pan and fixed that at the same time. No more oil on the driveway.
Also check your valve cover gasket, especially rear one, chances are it's leaking and dripping oil on the back of the engine.

mitmaks

What you do is get some oil dye from your local auto parts.
Put it in your engine oil and drive for a couple of days, that way it circulates throughout the engine.
Get UV light and special glasses (also can be bought from auto parts store) and inspect your engine.
You'll find traces of uv dye wherever leaks are at.

total1

Ok, I checked with a local Midas location (midwest) who quoted the following (rough amounts as I was driving when I received the call back):
1) Oil pan gaskets ($350-ish)
2) Rear valve cover gasket ($450-ish)
3) Rear seal ($850-ish .. .drop transmission, 8 hour job)
The net of it all is that it's appearing to run about 1400-1500 to do them all at the same time.
I'm inclined to do one now and another in another 6 months or year or so to reduce the 'hit' on the cash flow. The above doesn't include the Mobil 1 EP oil and oil filter!!
A) Any type of gasket suggested etc.?
B) Comments.. ideas/thoughts? Second quote?
C) Does an oil additive (Lucas oil etc) look attractive (and work?) at these quoted prices or is it too late for an additive to work?
Thanks again for the fantastic insight and comments especially the dye idea!

PFB

Those prices are not much different than a Lexus dealer would charge. I paid $900.00 plus tax last year to have the rear seal done at the Lexus dealer. Parts included. He also changed the transmission seal at at the same time. I have a post on that titled ”first major problem with my 2001 es300"

Either way, use only original parts.

Phil

mitmaks

Find a mechanic who can do it at home, it will be much cheaper. Use Fel Pro gaskets

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

Don't start throwing your money at ghosts. You don't even know what's leaking, how do you know that doing one of those will help? It can be as simple as extra oil from an oil filter change (poor location). The oil spills out and drips down to the back of the engine, after every oil change. Burning half a quart every 8,000 miles is perfectly normal. In fact, you shouldn't be driving more than 6,000 miles between oil changes with these engines.

Clean off the oil and see if it reappears.