Timing Cover Leaking Oil !!!

It's embodied in cylinder head repair, so they assume you are removing the engine.

We did 2 out of truck, from then we started removing diff, removing rack and removing lower pan.

The lower pan on 2010 4runners and 2016 tacomas has to be removed, this is the pain of the job. On top of difficult valve covers to remove.

It's just not nice to work on compared to prior models.

I learn as I go, I did a headgasket today and all I ever look up is torque spec for headbolts. Most is intuition with gasket/seal replacements.

 

Out of curiosity I watched this video on YouTube on how this repair was done on the Tacoma without removing the engine. The video was a little painful to watch. The format was annoying and the mechanic a little unorthodox in his methods. Flip Flops while doing the repair? Anyhow, I was able to get a better sense of what is all involved. To me the most important part seemed to be the application of the sealant (FIPG) Toyota gives you. Too much and you could have some seep internally and plug an oil gallery. Too little and or If you smear it, it could leak again. If you didn’t clean all surfaces to remove all the old sealant, could also leak again. Either way seems like a huge PITA. The CCN did one on a 2015 Hylander with a 2GR-FE. He removed the engine completely and suggests it’s the only way to do it properly on these engines so you have better quality control over the cleaning and re-sealing process.

I guess a physical, one piece, ready formed gasket is not practical in this situation? So hence the tube of sealant?

 

I did a timing cover on an 86 Toyota pickup this week. 22r (carburated). It calls for cylinder head removal. My boss instructed me how to do the job without removing the head. 10+ hour job turned into 5-6 hours.

Do not look forward to doing timing cover on the 3.5.

 

If the cover comes all the way off, I would get a gasket making sheet material and you make your own with a small ball pin hammer, done it many times on odd hard to find equipment pars.
Or I would use RTV black engine sealer, used it many times too and works great. Just follow any SM recommended procedures and be sure to fasten to proper tightening sequence and torque recommendations. Definitely go with new water pump

 

I kinda wish I would've waited longer, I waited a year from when I found it and it was starting to leak onto my garage floor so I caved. My extended warranty expires next year so I did it. I'm having some drama with the truck now that I got it back and have been driving it for a few weeks. I 100% wouldn't have dealt with it out of warranty.

 

Reading through this thread is interesting. I’ve owned 6 Toyota trucks going back to 1986. It is disconcerting to have an oil leak before 50k miles and under warranty but you need to decide if it’s advantageous to tear into a perfectly working vehicle to chase a tiny leak. Toyota has identified the leak and rates it on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being worst. Worst I’ve seen was a 6 or 7 and that didn’t require adding oil between 5k OCI. All my Toyota trucks leaked and I cleaned and watched them, none ever got worse so I saved money by not chasing a tiny problem. If you want leak free vehicles just trade em off every 2 years and stay in debt forever.

 

Looks like I spoke too soon. 18 months and 12k miles after the dealership did my timing cover it looks like it’s leaking again.
@Bishop84, is there a law of diminishing returns on doing the job more than once? Last time the tech damaged a valve cover which ended up leaking and also damaged an axle seal. I’m more cautious about doing the job a second time if it’s going to be a reoccurring problem. Also, I didn’t have my bumper at the time of the last job. Now I’ve got a full bumper with full hoops. How much is the tech going to hate me?

 

Some techs will charge to have the bumper removed. Typically the dealer will internal an hour or so to please the tech and not annoy the customer.

We've only seen one recent case where the truck was put towards a good deal on another, but it was a HUGE anomaly. Tech error is the dealers issue.

 

I’m confident the dealer will take care of it. I’ve still got 15k left on my certified warrant which is the only way it was covered at 73k in the first place. I’m just concerned with everything having to be pulled out again. I feel like once is one thing twice im pushing my luck.

 

I had a 2007 Lexus ES350 with the leaky timing cover, very common problem. It's an engine-out job because it's FWD.

Ended up selling it rather than fixing it.

 

How many have had theirs done more than once? Knowing mine is leaking again I’m hesitant to have everything pulled out again, especially hearing stories of guys having it fixed multiple times. Figure if it’s going to keep happening it’s not worth the risk to keep yanking the engine every 18 months.

 

It's astonishing Toyota keeps rolling hundreds of thousands of motors out with the same problem. Screw fixing the engineering issue, keep pumping them out since they sell.

 

Ughhhh sorry you have to deal with this again! I haven't even been driving mine while awaiting to get my valve cover fixed as well since it's dripping on the exhaust so badly and smoking, I guess they had to order parts but this whole process has been so long and drawn out. I'd be so hesitant to do it again, how annoying.

For what it's worth, I have the SSO full plate bumper with the low hoop and they didn't complain about taking it off (well to my face anyway lol). But that one isn't super heavy and I installed it myself so I imagine a few dudes could take it off easily. To be nice though I unhooked my winch cable and disconnect, and also unplugged my lightbar and routed the wires out of the way. Mainly so they wouldn't have the chance to screw anything else up. I also removed all my skids, which also allowed me to see how much fluid dripping onto my floor after the repair

 

Dealer tried telling me they couldn't see any oil leak, and what I'm seeing is the Fluid Film I sprayed back in the fall. I'm not crazy, right?

 

Is there a way to clean the area that is leaking, and then smear an epoxy like JB Weld over it. To seal it from the outside? I understand it's a seep and not a leak per say...

 

@Woodrow F Call I'm with you on that. My 21 sr5 v6 with 24000miles hasn’t shown any sign of that and I heard if it does, it just seeps through the area and not fully leak to where you’re losing oil fast. I think I’d rather have the timing cover issue than the hemi trucks lifter tick issues

 

I know this is an old thread...but I got my 2016 Taco in Jan of 2017 with ~6K miles on it. Noticed this exact passenger-side small oil leak around 15K when I swapped my air intake, and decided to just leave it and see what happens. She now has ~106K miles and no real issues. I check the oil periodically between changes, but generally don't have to add any (and I change every 15K w/ fully syn Amsoil). It's a dumb problem, but it's not dumb enough to cause me to drop $4K on fixing it.

 

That’s good to know that you’ve had it this long without any major issues. I just moved my power and steering pump on my 2016 and put some permatex on the area a couple weeks ago. I think it at least slowed it down but time will tell.

Did you decide not to have the fix during the warranty period due to how invasive the repair was? That’s my concern even more than the money. Pretty invasive job with potential for other problems for such a small leak.

 

Exactly. Plus I only had one vehicle at the time and didn't want to deal with it being in the shop for a week. I genuinely thought about getting it fixed a couple years ago (well out of warranty now), just so I don't have oil gummed around that side of the engine, but figured it's gone this long...so eff it.

 

hello. I joined the forum because of this issue. I have 2016 with approx. 109K now. I change the oil with Mobile 1 synthentic every 5K, or 6 months. Looking back through my paperwork I found a multi point inspection that was performed by toyota at 43084 miles, noted "p/s pump / monitor," under the "engine oil and / or fluid leaks" section of the inspection form (the colorful one). This was never pointed out to me at the time. I have never had the low oil light come on while driving the truck, and have never topped the oil off between oil changes, but I do get a significant amount of oil that accumulates over a long period. Really regret not joining this forum years/ miles ago. I could have had this fixed under warranty. I do all the maintenance following the expiration of my warranty. Youtube has been quite helpful.