hey guys,

I just got my first Lexus and so far I love it. It's a 94 Gs300 and it's mint inside and out. Original owner, all documentation, and garage kept.

As of recently, I noticed a leak towards the back of the motor. Unfortunately the leak seems to be hitting the black chassis brace under where the motor and tranny connect, and then drips from random spots.

My initial thought was the rear main seal, but if you look at the two silver hoses with those black pieces, you can see a drop coming from there. I dont know what that is.

Any ideas? Thanks.

 

This didnt happen the first few days I had the car. As of recently, I changed the air filter, added some techron to my last fill up, and drove more spiritedly. Gave it a few healthy pulls but nothing crazy.

The owner also topped it off w tranny fluid before he gave it to me, but I think it was already pretty full. The oil is still at full.

 

most of the time the rear main seal will leak and flood that whole area with oil.

 

Yea, I figured that would make the most sense, unfortunately. But after further inspection, I noticed that the bolts onthe oil pan are dripping w oil, and the oil filter above was seeping a little and the oil would leak down the side and drip on the bolt below it, and other places. Added some more pics. Thoughts?

 

Usually in that situation when everything is covered in oil and its hard to tell where the leak is coming from, I clean everything off with brake clean or degreaser then let the car run so I can see exactly where the leak is coming from.

 

Yea...that makes sense. I just got back under and wiped everything down and put some fresh white paper underneath the car so I can see where it drips from. I took a few more pics...I think it's the oil pan / oil pan gasket / oil pan bolts. If you look, the oil pan is pretty drenched w fresh oil. The bolts had drips of oil coming off them. It just baffled me because the oil was dripping as far back as the tranny, but I guess that's because I was on the highway last night and some of it couldve blown back.

Thanks again for the suggestions.



Oil pan is obviously drenched.





IDK wtf this rubber grommet is, but oil seems to be coming from under it?





Pan bolts

 

Definitely looks like the oil pan is leaking. The rubber grommet is a cover over the access hole for the torque converter/flex plate bolts and usually if oil is dripping from behind it then your rear main seal is leaking.

 

Definitely check the valve cover gasket

On my old sc300 it would leak a great deal. When I pulledthe motor for a swap I then noticed, they very back of the valve cover. Leaking and making a hudge mess all the way down, made it look like the rear seal was leaking.

 

Valve cover gasket was one of the first things I inspected...I don't see any leaks coming from that area. It's also hard to tell because the motor is old and it has a lot of **** smudged on it. I tried to squeeze my head in the bay and get a peak at in between the motor and firewall, but I don't see anything actually leaking back there.

The only actual leak I did find was on the oil filter (as pictured). I'm not sure if it was overfilled or loose, but I saw some fresh oil seeping out of where it screws it. The oil would accumulate and then run down the side of the filter, and drip on everything below. I think there's oil everywhere because the car hasn't be driven fast / hard in a while, so when I took it on the highway, the oil that accumulated in some spots blew all over the motor and other components.

I tightened the oil filter w my hand and wiped it down, along w the rest of the undercarriage, but it still feels like it can be tightened more? I don't know, but after that I let it run for 15m in the garage and nothing dripped, or after that. It's hard to tell now bc it just snowed and the bottom will be wet for a while.