Bad Oil Pump - engine death?

[shellc]

Hi,

I have a 95 Camry, 112K miles.

I've had an oil leak for the past year - not so bad that it's draining all the oil, but bad enough that I have to add oil every 1-2 months.

I went to a Toyota dealership for help. They put dye in to find the source.

The problem: A "considerable" leak in the oil pump. There's also leakage from the valve cover gasket, dist. o-ring, and trans. pan gasket.

I also need a new timing belt and water pump (i already knew). To have all of these leaks fixed and new timing belt and water pump will run me $1900 parts and labor.

My question: The guy at the service center said that if the oil pump and leaks are not fixed, the engine will dry out within a year, even with my adding oil. Is this true? Is an oil pump leak that dangerous?

I'm in school for the next 3 yrs, and a new/used car is not an option. I really need this car to get me through school.

Thanks for any help.

[Brian R.]

Cheapest of all is to simply re-torque the valve cover bolts (17 ft-lbs on a 4-cylinder) and see if this gets slows down or gets rid of the valve cover gasket leak.

If that doesn't help significantly, I would get the distributor o-ring and valve cover gasket replaced and see what your leak rate is then. It is difficult to predict a leak rate from looking at dye. Might be a majority of the leak is these two seals, both are fairly cheap (if you have a 4-cylinder).

[hueroloco]

$1900 seems like WAY too much.

The oil leak at the oil pump is common and pretty easy. Especially when you have to take the timing covers off to replace the timing belt and water pump. The oil pump, the water pump and the timing belt are all underneath the timing cover.

You should go to another shop, dude. Don't believe anyone who says the dealership is better. I've worked at dealerships and they are not. If anything they are worse, because most are flatrate and the techs cut corners to make more money for themselves. I've worked with just as big backyard mechanic greasemonkeys at dealerships as I have at independent shops.

Find a good shop and bring it in for a second opinion. The labor should be only about 2-3 hours more than the labor rate for a timing belt. (if that!) And a timing belt isn't anywhere near $1000 even. I could look it up and tell you what we would charge for that work, if you want, but it would probly be half of $1900, that's pretty crazy.

PS, the valve cover gasket is easy too. Hour labor max. Distributor o-ring, a little extra, but right below the valve cover. Don't worry about the tranny leak right unless it's a big one

[techspecs]

Originally Posted by shellc

Hi,


The problem: A "considerable" leak in the oil pump. There's also leakage from the valve cover gasket, dist. o-ring, and trans. pan gasket.

I also need a new timing belt and water pump (i already knew). To have all of these leaks fixed and new timing belt and water pump will run me $1900 parts and labor.

My question: The guy at the service center said that if the oil pump and leaks are not fixed, the engine will dry out within a year, even with my adding oil. Is this true? Is an oil pump leak that dangerous?

I'm in school for the next 3 yrs, and a new/used car is not an option. I really need this car to get me through school.

Thanks for any help.

Are you sure they didn't say/mean the oil pan? The oil pump should be located inside the oil pan and would not be visable even with the dye test.
To answer your question: the guy at the service center is full of crap. Any oil leak can be dangerous if you dont pay attention to your oil level and if you are adding oil and paying attention, you're not going to dry out. You don't mention how much oil you have to add every 1-2 months, but if its only 1 quart thats not accessive but it gets annoying. You should check the torque on the bolts to the oil pan and valve cover.
I would also call around and get quotes on a timing belt and water pump replacement. They don't have to see the car to be able to give you a quote.

[Goldenblade]

Don't take it to a dealer. They nickel and dime you to death. I take my car to an automotive shop and get slightly expensive, but high quality, warrantied work.

[burchard]

I did waht Brian is suggesting, dist O ring changed, re-torqued valve cover. The leak decrease to a minimun that I will fix when I install a new timing belt. Probably the o ring of the oil pump is leaking. I also reptorqued the few visible oil pump bolts. I am not sure how much that helped.