96 Camry Oil Leak -- Timing Cover?

[tfvesquire]

Hi All:

I have a 96 Camry LE 4 cyl that has developed a small leak/drip on the passenger side of the engine, near the pulleys. I had the car on a lift and could see some oil leaking from the valve cover, timing cover and oil pan. I snugged down the oil pan bolts and wiped as much as could clean. I figure I will need to replace the valve cover gasket at some point, but it doesn't look too bad.

My question involves the timing cover. I know I need to replace the timing belt/water pump within the next year, but is the leak I am seeing being caused by a crankshaft seal or something serious? The garage I took it to said they would replace the gaskets and timing belt for approx $400.00, but they didn't mention anything about the oil coming from the timing cover gasket. Has anyone run into this issue? BTW, my car has approx 150K on it.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Ted, Chicago

[Daniel M. Dreifus]

Here's the list from my records for maintenance I did on a similar vehicle:
6/12/04: Major Servicing: 120,124 miles:
Replace: timing belt, crankshaft oil seal, oil pump oil seal, oil pump O-ring, camshaft oil seal, idler bearing, idler tensioner bearing, timing cover gasket set, valve cover gasket, ck valve clearances, PCV valve, PCV valve grommet, oil cap gasket, distributor O-ring, distributor cap, rotor, distributor packing, spark plug wires, spark plugs, fuel filter, air filter, ck. battery, oil pan gasket, transmission pan gasket, water pump, thermostat, radiator cap, gas cap, differential service, engine moving control rod, accessory drive belts: power steering pump, A/C - alternator, alternator brushes, ck. chassis mounting bolt torque, set ignition timing
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Snugging down the oil pan bolts helps some, but you probably need to replace the gasket. Toyota uses FIPG (form in place gasket) material. You need to remove the center exhaust pipe and should replace the bolts and gaskets. If you do this yourself parts are inexpensive - like many automotive repairs, the labor adds quite a bit to the price. Be sure the bottom of the engine block is completely clean - I wiped it down with solvent, before re installing the pan. You need to apply the bead of sealant fairly close to the edge of the pan in the back near the rear main seal.
When changing the timing belt, I also change all the components that can wear, so that includes the oil seals and idlers along with the water pump. That way, no worries for another 60,000 miles. When I removed the old idler pulleys, and turned them by hand they made noise.
On mine the gasket set for the timing cover had some missing pieces so I replaced those also. That would be for the plastic cover, wouldn't affect an oil leak, but should help keep grit out.
I also had to change the transmission oil pan gasket. Seems someone stripped two bolts and just left them in so they looked good but couldn't be tightened properly.
I prefer to do my own work. Often I find errors left behind by prior mechanics. For example I found the edge of the crank pulley chipped from someone prying rather than using a puller, the "jiggle valve" in the thermostat wasn't properly lined up with the mark on the water inlet, and the stripped trans. pan bolts.
If you can get the Factory Service manuals, they're very complete. After searching for some time, found them at reasonable price on eBay.
If you're doing your own work, remove the crankshaft pulley first, then loosen the lower bolts on the engine brace - otherwise they're very difficult to reach. An electric impact wrench worked for removing the bolt, but I've since purchased an air gun to replace the axle and remove the axle nut, -- the air gun is definitely the way to go if you can. Found a full polish, 625 ft. lb. max torque impact air gun at Harbor Freight, figuring I use it rarely so doesn't have to be top quality.
I purchased a special tool to install that camshaft oil seal allowing you to press in the new seal very easily even with the limited clearance near the strut tower. Cam shaft is turning more slowly, so that is probably going to be the last oil seal to leak, but imho you should definitely plan on replacing the crankshaft oil seal and oil pump seal and O-ring.
I wanted to be sure the timing marks were correctly aligned, and even with a mirror, shop light and a dab of white paint, still had difficulty so I placed a round toothpick through the hole in the cam pulley to feel when it was exactly aligned with the mark on the upper bearing shell, and that worked well.
Final tip: - tensioning the timing belt correctly can be tricky, what worked for me was to install a new tensioning spring, but not rely on that spring but loosened the adjustment bolt on the tensioner pulley, then using a "hook" tool, pulled up smoothly but with enough force to move the whole engine slightly about three times, then relax the tension allowing the spring to retain the correct amount.

[imc188222]

I would say that the oil leak is coming from the oil pump o-ring. I have seen several toyotas that had to be gone back into because they neglected to replace the oil pump o-ring when they did the timing belt.

[It is a car!]

On my 96 Camry the only leak I had in that area was from the Distributor
O-ring - easy replace.