Take a crack, 80 series oil leak.

[captainp243]

Had an oil change recently and a tire shop attempted an alignment, I noticed a slow drip leak maybe a few days afterwards. Ran some black light dye to help identify the under chassis is covered in radioactive oil now… anyone want to take a crack at it before she goes in for a proper diagnosis

 

[Old40Dog]

How many miles on engine? If I was to guess, likely the Front Oil Seal located behind the front balancer pulley. It tends to leak slowly at first and blows back across the oil pan while driving. I'm sure others will chime in on this as well. You can find more info on replacing the front oil seal on MUD. Here's a link: https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/ho...ket-in-an-auto-my-days-work-with-pics.465678/

 

[RayRay27]

Is the oil filter tight? Did you do the oil change or the tire shop? If they did it, may not of screwed the filter on tight enough. Could be something simple if it wasn't leaking before. Also if they did the oil change, when they pulled the filter, they could of dump a decent amount of oil down the side of the block and then not cleaned it up so you're getting residual dripping down.
Have you power washed the bottom side and then checked to see where it may be coming from?

 

[HDavis]

Aside from the other two guess my guess is it's the power steering pump seal where it meets the motor or its oil pump seal on the front side.

 

[captainp243]

Thanks for the replies. 189k on LC and I think Old40dog is on it. My first thought was they didn’t have the filter tight, so I checked it and she was snug and the leak seems to be coming from below the filter. Second thought was power steering pump, but the reservoir levels were fine and steering felt normal. Thirdly, I wiped everything down and added some dye to the engine oil to try to spot it with a black light, but with driving it around it’s too hard to pinpoint. It’s definitely engine oil though so I’m going use my borescope to get in there tomorrow and take a closer look around.

 

[Pz10420]

Even though the filter is tight I would pull the oil filter and make sure they cleaned the mounting surface good before they installed the oil filter. Its the cheapest and easiest possible repair and seeing that was the last thing touched prior to the leak.

 

[KC Masterpiece]

If it started right after an oil change my bet is that your filter is tight, but has a double o ring.

 

[LARGEONE]

The issue starting after the oil change could also be a viscosity difference. If I use a thicker oil, my front oil seal doesn't leak. If I use a lower viscosity SYN oil, it does. Usually the leaks in the front area are the oil pump seal, or sometimes the O-ring on the distributor? I never have fixed my front oil pump seal...I just throw in about 2 qts of high mileage oil (same type as other 6qts) and the additives in it keep it from leaking.

 

[Inukshuk]

"Had an oil change recently and a tire shop attempted an alignment"

Did you do the change or a shop?
If a shop - did you check the oil level after the change? Have you checked it as part of diagnosing?
If a shop - what shop? Huge difference if you went to a jiffy lube and alignment Quickee Mart or Slee Offroad.
If a shop - what oil did they put in? What oil did you have in there before? This is not likely viscosity, but its a data point to know for sure.
If a shop -have you gone back there? If no, why not?
Was there any oil leak before the oil change? If so, where? If not, go back to the shop.
Is there oil on the front of the engine or just below and behind the oil filter?
What does "attempted an alignment". You either do an alignment or not. What did they tell you? Same shop as the oil change?

What is your mechanical skill level? You have a boroscope and know to use dye Knowing where you are at will help anyone answer you. Do you know what parts they R&R for an oil change? I ask because, with all due respect to @Old40Dog and @HDavis those seals not implicated by an oil change are way down my checklist on "suddenly after an oil change I have a leak"

If you want to throw parts at it, take off filter and examine (for double o-ring and for defects) throw on a Toyota filter (or any good one), clean, check oil level, drive and see what happens.

This could also be as simple as the shop not cleaning off the oil that runs down the side of the block and onto the top of the axle at every oil change.

 

[HDavis]

I misunderstood the statement. I read tire shop attempting alignment and totally didn't understand that they did an oil change too. My first step would be replacing the filter.