I recently found a rather large oil patch under my is200 after a 75 mile motorway run. I got the car jacked up and under tray off. Theres oil all along the transmission tunnel but guess that could be due to high speeds blowing oil back under the car (its pretty messy under there!). The oil filter has some oil around the seal and thats the furthest forward of the engine bay i can find oil so would i be right in assuming thats the leak? Is there any way to check if thats the leak? I cant tighten the filter by hand so should i use a chain to tighten it further or do i risk overtightening? Quick answers will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks for any help.

[quote name='Maffison' post='709990' date='Feb 20 2010, 02:44 PM']I recently found a rather large oil patch under my is200 after a 75 mile motorway run. I got the car jacked up and under tray off. Theres oil all along the transmission tunnel but guess that could be due to high speeds blowing oil back under the car (its pretty messy under there!). The oil filter has some oil around the seal and thats the furthest forward of the engine bay i can find oil so would i be right in assuming thats the leak? Is there any way to check if thats the leak? I cant tighten the filter by hand so should i use a chain to tighten it further or do i risk overtightening? Quick answers will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks for any help.[/quote]

Hi Maffison,

Get your engine steam cleaned to get rid of all the oil that's leaked onto it. Take for a short drive and look out for fresh seepage of oil. It's really the only way to pinpoint it.

Regards,
Lance

Thanks for the quick response Lance. I have cleaned up around the oil filter as best i could, layed a sheet under the car with the covers removed and ran it till warm and as suspected its dripping from the oil filter. Difficult too see there but i ran my finger round it and theres freshly leaked oil so mystery solved. Service is due so will keep topping up oil till then.
Thanks again.

Why not try and tighten the oil filter if it lose, no point just keep toppoing up with oil

Well I decided to do an oil change as it was due and the old filter wouldn't tighten any more. When I removed the old filter I found it was a German part with a flat seal so not too surprising it leaked. A Toyota filter has now been fitted, 4 litres of 5w/30 Magnatec to fill up and a new sump plug washer and the leak is no more.

I ALWAYS use a genuine Toyota oil filter- patterned oil filters tend to cause trouble (ie: don't fit/seal properly) on the IS200 engine.

A genuine Toyota oil filter is less than a tenner- worth every penny IMHO.

I totally agree Kam. I have owned the car 4 months now and have only used genuine parts on it, and don't plan on using pattern parts. I want to keep the car for as long as possible and using genuine parts will hopefully keep her running trouble free for longer.

[quote name='Maffison' post='710692' date='Feb 24 2010, 10:19 AM']I totally agree Kam. I have owned the car 4 months now and have only used genuine parts on it, and don't plan on using pattern parts. I want to keep the car for as long as possible and using genuine parts will hopefully keep her running trouble free for longer.[/quote]

Well my car is 9.5 years old and most of the replacement parts, (filters, discs/pads, timing belt etc) I use are OEM items from Toyota/Lexus. I have a few upgraded parts such as a K&N air filter. My car is now on 132k (I've owned it for 7 years now and its done 100k under my ownership). I expect to take my car to 200/250k before I get rid of it.

As long as you service the car regularly/on time, these cars will last for many years.