Did a visual inspection of my '92 the other day. The area around the front of the tranny appears to be slightly wet. Upon closer inspection, it looks like engine oil NOT tranny fluid. There appears to be a very slight oil leak. Nothing significant enough to even show evidence on the floor underneath the car. It just seems to leak onto the tranny cover and gets burned off.
Is this common among older, higher mileage SC300's? Is it the head gasket or the valve cover gasket that is usually the problem?
TIA!

 

Probably just a valve cover gasket. Check the torque on the valve cover bolts first, if they are fine, pull the covers off to inspect.

Chris

 

quik,
thanx for the quick reply...

What does it take to take the valve cover off? Do I need to take off the intake manifold and throttlebody assembly?

 

sounds like you need to find a good service manual to guide you through. as far as the leak goes, only one way to find out

 

Leaking near transmission? Could be rear main seal.

 

this is a 4 yr old thread, bub.

 

If you've got a leak near the front of the transmission, it is almost certainly the rear main seal.. best to live with it, unless it is pouring out substantially. Pretty rare for the cam cover gaskets to leak on these cars, but you could easily look along the upper back of the engine block to see if it is wet and oily also.

 

i had the same...its the rear main seal just as the guy described above...not a big deal...depends how much is leaking..mine is very little...shud be okay after a tune up...i need a new clutch so mine shud be fine after

 

Just called Lexus today quote: $918.37 for SC300 rear main seal repair