[Jaggu]

Hi again Spyderchat,

I've unfortunately had a big or multiple problems, was driving normally when the red battery light came on, handbrake and abs light followed, power steering and front lights followed soon afterwards and the car would not turn on for 20 minutes or so. Without anything done to it, it would turn on later, I suspect the battery to be out of juice and the alternator not supplying sufficient power.

The same trip i was trying to get home and holding a steady 5000rpm (2zz) to recharge the battery and it did work, however smoke came up from the handbrake and i don't know what to make of it. Smoke was also coming heavily out of the engine bay on the passenger side.
When i stopped to check there was small puddle of oil on the asphalt.

I could not get the car to go much above 3500rpm when low on electricity, not sure if it can help or not. Did not attempt go above 2500rpm after the oil puddle.

I'm scared to the drive the car in case it decides to blow up.

Current oil level a week ago was near full on the dipstick, now its 3/4 of the way.

I do not have much technical knowledge and would heavily appreciate if anyone knows something i don't.
I have the 2zz with no engine mods.

I would prefer not to purchase a brand new engine and try to repair whatever failed, but i am prepared to spend money.

 

[celija]

Are you able to determine where the engine oil is coming from?

That would be my first area to look at.

 

[FormInFunction]

Agree with finding the oil leak. Oil on the exhaust will smoke heavily. I'd also check the coolant to make sure there's no oil in there. The worst oil leak I had on my original 2zz engine was a hole in the block...that one was pretty easy to hear as well.

While it sounds like you may need a new alternator, it doesn't make sense that you would be able to drive very long if it wasn't working. I would multimeter test the battery, alternator, & check for pos/neg voltage drop.

 

[rmeller]

Did you get the smoke while cranking? That will happen if the main ground from the battery to the bell housing is bad. Then the starter current tries to find an alternate path, and sometimes that is the handbrake cables.

 

[GearheadKayeB]

Everything else mentioned is super solid, figure out the source of the oil first.
All those accessories going out made me think belt, even though it doesn't make sense for anything else you described. But maybe worth a cursory check just because.

 

[Jaggu]

Did you get the smoke while cranking? That will happen if the main ground from the battery to the bell housing is bad. Then the starter current tries to find an alternate path, and sometimes that is the handbrake cables.

Not anything i could see, now it starts without any issues. Oil still leaking tho.

 

[Jaggu]

I will locate the source of the leak tomorrow, is there any chance there could be a small hole in the block that's leaking terribly?

 

[DaWaN]

Oil leak is most likely the timing chain tensioner.
If you are lucky, it is just the O-ring.
If you have bad luck, it is the timing cover gasket.
Oil will come from the same place when either of them leaks and since full oil pressure is applied to the tensioner, it can leak quite a lot.

 

[DrFries]

I will locate the source of the leak tomorrow, is there any chance there could be a small hole in the block that's leaking terribly?

No way. If you had a tiny hole in the block then it wouldn't have made it home. I wonder if it is the valve cover gasket that is leaking. If it was leaking bad enough it could have drenched the alternator with oil. Also I could see it leaking onto the exhaust manifold and causing the smell. Possibly because you were revving the engine a lot of oil ended up the head?
Side note: You never mentioned what the smoke smelled like. Did it have a smell?

 

[Jaggu]

The timing chain tensioner was leaking and i will replace it tomorrow, I thought it couldn't be this cause i replaced the tensioner and o ring just months ago. I believe the oil could drip down onto the serpentine belt, therefor not generating enough power. There could be more leaks but this i did see, have to get a new o-ring.

 

[Jaggu]

No way. If you had a tiny hole in the block then it wouldn't have made it home. I wonder if it is the valve cover gasket that is leaking. If it was leaking bad enough it could have drenched the alternator with oil. Also I could see it leaking onto the exhaust manifold and causing the smell. Possibly because you were revving the engine a lot of oil ended up the head?
Side note: You never mentioned what the smoke smelled like. Did it have a smell?

Cannot remember any specific smell.

 

[DrFries]

Cannot remember any specific smell.

Hmm strange. The reason I was asking was to know if it was a oil small or "magic smoke" (electronics) smell. Hopefully the O-ring is what caused it. I don't know how much it matters but the torque on those two bolts is very low. Possibly when it was replaced last time it was too tight and crushed the seal?

Torque spec: : 9.0 N·m (92 kgf·cm, 80 in.·lb)

Hopefully that gets the car back in working order for you!

 

[DaWaN]

Hopefully the O-ring is what caused it. I don't know how much it matters but the torque on those two bolts is very low. Possibly when it was replaced last time it was too tight and crushed the seal?

Torque spec: : 9.0 N·m (92 kgf·cm, 80 in.·lb)

The O-ring seals on its perimeters, so there is no real correlation between leaking and torque on those bolts.

I would suggest to inspect both the tensioner and timing cover bore for any dirt/debris and/or burrs. Clean the bore and put grease on the O-ring before installing.
I had the O-ring leak multiple times on both my 1ZZ and 2ZZ.
I had more luck with BS-212 sized Viton O-rings than OEM Toyota O-rings.

In the end the leak persisted on my 2ZZ and I had to replace the timing cover gasket. Be prepared to do the same if the O-ring does not cure the leak. Oil will come from the same place if the timing cover leaks.

 

[Funnyman]

Refill the engine of oil lost. Use brake cleaner and spay it all around and under the engine. Start the engine drive it like your normal driving. Take a photo of your engine bay with a zoom of the engine valve cover + exhaust header + engine oil pan + transmission shaft left/right. Even brand new, the O-ring valve cover can leak. I gived up as the leak is very minimous. But the quantity of oil lost you got can't come from the chain tensioner. If it was the engine valve cover, you should see a huge oil leak from it and cannot miss it.

Maybe the oil leak can come from the oil pan. Parked, my MR-S leak sometime on hard driving (not regular), and it's enough to spill oil to the road of ~10cm/3.93inch diameter in ~2 hours. Jack up the rear of the car (from the rear engine mount) and look at the oil pan and maybe the oil filter if you did replaced oil and oil filter recently.

 

[Jaggu]

The O-ring seals on its perimeters, so there is no real correlation between leaking and torque on those bolts.

I would suggest to inspect both the tensioner and timing cover bore for any dirt/debris and/or burrs. Clean the bore and put grease on the O-ring before installing.
I had the O-ring leak multiple times on both my 1ZZ and 2ZZ.
I had more luck with BS-212 sized Viton O-rings than OEM Toyota O-rings.

In the end the leak persisted on my 2ZZ and I had to replace the timing cover gasket. Be prepared to do the same if the O-ring does not cure the leak. Oil will come from the same place if the timing cover leaks.

Do you remember how thick those o-rings were? Looking to get 3mm ones.

 

[Jaggu]

Hmm strange. The reason I was asking was to know if it was a oil small or "magic smoke" (electronics) smell. Hopefully the O-ring is what caused it. I don't know how much it matters but the torque on those two bolts is very low. Possibly when it was replaced last time it was too tight and crushed the seal?

Torque spec: : 9.0 N·m (92 kgf·cm, 80 in.·lb)

Hopefully that gets the car back in working order for you!

I can confidently say there was no electronics smell of sorts, I would recognize that.
Thanks for the torque spec, will install the new o-ring this evening and hopefully bring good news.

 

[Jaggu]

Refill the engine of oil lost. Use brake cleaner and spay it all around and under the engine. Start the engine drive it like your normal driving. Take a photo of your engine bay with a zoom of the engine valve cover + exhaust header + engine oil pan + transmission shaft left/right. Even brand new, the O-ring valve cover can leak. I gived up as the leak is very minimous. But the quantity of oil lost you got can't come from the chain tensioner. If it was the engine valve cover, you should see a huge oil leak from it and cannot miss it.

Maybe the oil leak can come from the oil pan. Parked, my MR-S leak sometime on hard driving (not regular), and it's enough to spill oil to the road of ~10cm/3.93inch diameter in ~2 hours. Jack up the rear of the car (from the rear engine mount) and look at the oil pan and maybe the oil filter if you did replaced oil and oil filter recently.

Valve cover is what's top of the engine? That doesn't leak at all if i'm thinking right.
Will have a closer look when i'm under the engine later.

I really hoped it's only the o-ring that needs replacing cause i don't have the equipment to remove the engine and replace any major gaskets. Would have to ask the toyota workshop to fix it and they probably want 1500$++ for something like that.

 

[DaWaN]

Do you remember how thick those o-rings were? Looking to get 3mm ones.

I think the OEM O-ring is 22.00mm ID with 3.00mm cross section (not 100% sure).
BS-212 is imperial O-ring with 21.82mm ID with 3.53mm cross section.
The imperial one gives you a bit more squeeze, which cured the leak for me.
Whether it is a smart thing in the long run I am not sure, I am not a mechanical engineer.

I really hoped it's only the o-ring that needs replacing cause i don't have the equipment to remove the engine and replace any major gaskets. Would have to ask the toyota workshop to fix it and they probably want 1500$++ for something like that.

Yeah doing the timing chain cover is not a quick and easy job.
But 20 years of age + many heat cycles + full oil pressure makes it prone to failure. I had to do it on my 2ZZ unfortunately.
One of the design flaws of the ZZ engines in my book. If you look at Honda K-series or the later ZR engines, the tensioner seals directly to the block.
I will keep my fingers crossed for you

 

[Jaggu]

Turns out the o-ring was the main reason it leaked so much. The crank wheel that is made of rubber had split into 2 parts, therefor not generating any electricity, I used Tec7 and glued it back together, seems to work well to be honest.

Thanks for all the help, i consider this thread closed!

 

[DaWaN]

Just the O-ring, common leak, I had to deal with it too many times. But nice you fixed it!

The crank pulley does not only drive the accesoiries, but it also functions as an harmonic damper.
If you run without an harmonic damper this can lead to strange bearing wear and oil pump failure.
Aftermarket 1ZZ-FE dampers (which fit the 2ZZ-GE) can be had for less than 40 euros new in Europe (OEM 13470-22021) (for example: Febest TDS-1ZZFE).
Personally, I would replace the damper by another unit for piece of mind. Risk of getting stranded and/or blowing up your oil pump is not worth saving 40 euros for me.