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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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 !!!!