Here I am, working on not one of my cars again. Also here I am again, asking the pros to make sure I'm not missing something obvious. Hopefully the last one for a while.
My cousin's truck sprung an oil leak - it's coming from the timing cover. I had to remove the AC pump to get a look at what's going on, it's leaking the same and the bolts into the cover were tight before and are tight now - I just had to put some bolts as a proxy ac bracket.
Just new gasket and send it or is there something I need to worry about?
Here it is flying, pretty truck:
How worn out is the timing chain? I'm trying to remember if they wear through the cover into coolant, or air. Edit: Video suggests its the oil pump feed. Check the chain and rails anyway, while you are in the neighborhood.
Don't forget about the bolt coming down from the head into the cover, under the timing gear.
And yes, they leak from the gaskets quite regularly. On something of that age, I would consider an oil pan gasket as well. If you are careful up top, the head gasket should survive, but you need to be a bit careful.
Don't cheap out on the gaskets. I'd pony up for original Toyota parts, because there's not a lot of dollars in parts, compared to labour.
I remember this vividly from the '80s and '90s. They all did that. They will all do it again. Sorry, not so helpful, but history sticks in the worst ways . . .
In reply to Streetwiseguy :
What he said^^^
The timing chain guides are what usually E36 M3s the bed on these. And yeah, timing chain flops around and cuts up the timing cover. There are expensive kits to go dual roller chains like early 22-Rs, but good guides (metal, me thinks) will do the trick. JB Weld will seal up the cover if it is work through.
What they said^^^
I haven't checked the price of a TC cover in a while but they not cheap. If the hole isn't too bad you can probably find a guy who can TIG it for 25 bucks ish.
The oil pan gasket is also the bottom of the TC cover gasket.
ShawnG
MegaDork
9/10/24 9:32 p.m.
Oil pump is in the timing cover, driven off the crank.
Check for a grooved crank pulley where the seal rides. Speedy sleeve if needed.
There's usually enough room to drive the front seal in a little further and get it on to fresh metal.
So, this is timely. Literally have the same spot leaking on my 22RE Toyota.
The area where it's leaking is a port cast into the timing cover to transfer high pressure oil between the block and oil pump. Only way to fix it is to remove and reseal the timing cover.
However, on these motors, it's a pain because the cylinder head (and forward part of the gasket) lays down on top of the timing cover.
From my research, i've been told one can gingerly remove just the timing cover without disturbing the head gasket, but it's a pain, and risky.
If the thing has any real miles on it at all, plan on doing a quality timing set while you're in there.
On mine I am just letting it leak and keeping an eye on it, as it's not my daily driver, it was rebuilt in 2018 and only has like 20k miles on it, and if I'm going thru that amount of work , I'd rather drop in an LS.
I cleaned and tried to spread FIPG on the outside sealing surface to slow down the leak, but it did nothing.
Timing covers are reasonable ($50 or so on RockAuto for a non-OEM one) but need to make sure that if the block was ever surfaced, that the top flange of the timing cover was milled down the same amount
A lotta good info here - thanks!
As usual, this is going to be more involved than I hoped.
I'm waiting to see what the cousin wants to do, it's his one and only daily driver and the leak is about 1 quart a week, it's not slow.
I suspect if he wants to try and fix it we're going to get it apart and inspect. It was a recent rebuild (as in like ~5 years or so?) and I trust the shop that did as far as I can throw them.
Timing cover gaskets are 11328-35020 and 11329-35020. Front crank seal is 90311-45006.
While you are in there, replace the oil pump o-ring, 15188-38030. I suspect a great many unfixable front crank seal leaks are actually oil pump o-rings that got overlooked.
Do not use an oil pan gasket. There is no such thing*. Use Toyota FIPG 00295-00103 or the top-shelf goop of your choice.
*Aftermarket sells gaskets because people assume all engines use them. Toyotas generally do not.
They make a repair front main/oil pump seal that is shorter than the original, it has an N in the part #. The front main was the only leak my truck had at 292k miles when I sold it last year.
If you are gonna go that deep I think a timing chain/tensioner wouldn't be a bad idea, you are right there. If the truck ever gives you chain slap, put fresh oil in it, that was my oil life monitor.
Good luck with it.
Copy on all fronts and thanks!
I'll update here as we tear into it - it sounds like we're all go for making a mess in my garage (again).
I was hoping to do some damage last night, but the crank pully is stuck. I ordered a 19mm weighted socket and a crank pully holder. If I want to use the weighted socket on an impact I need to move the AC condensor, which probably means taking off the front bumper.
oof.
I thought you put a breaker bar on front pulley against fram rail then bump the starter. Make sure breaker is on correct side. Can't remember. Good luck.
I did that job in the 90's, I think I had someone stand on the brake pedal while I put a breaker bar with a pipe extension on the crank bolt while the truck was in 1st gear.
benzbaronDaryn said:
I thought you put a breaker bar on front pulley against fram rail then bump the starter. Make sure breaker is on correct side. Can't remember. Good luck.
This is the way. The crank rotates clockwise when viewed from the front. Put the breaker bar and socket on the bolt and rotate clockwise until it rests firmly against the frame rail. Tao the starter and the engine will rotate clockwise while the breaker bar, socket, and crank bolt remain stationary.
I thought I was pretty slick when I discovered this in the early 90s. Then I found out that old timers had been doing it for decades.
I owe you guys a beer or twelve. Let's see if I can make that work.
I want to push this truck in a big hole and bury it, didn't budge with the starter trick either.
Really hoping the weighted socket works as well as the internet says it does or I'll cry.
Heat that sucker up then, might catch it on fire and make it look like an accident. Maybe someone used loctite.
In reply to benzbaronDaryn :
I put the fire to it on Sunday night for a good long time - I'll try again, but really hoping the weighted socket does something.
Here's how I did it many years ago in college. Doing a headgasket on the street while i was living in an apartment. Cant believe I found the pics, i did this solo
Rachet on the crank bolt with a cheater pipe to the frame. Stick the POS in gear and yank on it with a real truck. Bingo. If it skids the tires drop it in 4x4 and lock the hubs. I know a lot of people love them, but that truck gave me a real dislike for 22re's
I have no shame in saying I had a crisis in my pants when the damn thing broke loose. A six foot long cheater bar on the end of a wrench (old craftsman, impressed it survived). I used the weighted socket because it seemed to be the highest quality socket I own and least likely to slip - jack under the socket to make sure it stayed straight and it came out pretty easily - the socket was long enough that I couldn't even try it on the impact because it was about 3.5" long and even my most compact big impact was ~7" so it wouldn't fit in the space without moving the engine.
This is the crank holder I used, surpsingly high quality part.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q1W36L7?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title
Anyone have the part numbers for the two coolant pipe gaskets on either side of the timing cover? Boy this thing is an enromous pain in the ass.
In reply to accordionfolder :
Any chance of a few good pics of those two points, in context?
I'll try and get some in the morning, I'm strongly considering trying to just use waterpump gasket maker and hope for the best at this point.
It's the two water passages on either side of the pump that bolt from the back side of the timing cover into it. I think one is the "bypass" and one is the heater core. I didn't realize they weren't part of the side gaskets I already have on hand. Rockauto/napa/etc - I'm not finding a part for it and the videos I'm seeing people just cut their own gaskets for them. I'm fairly sure they can be replaced without removing anything else unlike the timing covers so I guess I can bandaid them ad fix it later if it becomes an issue.
This thing really has my number for some reason, ha.
Do your timing cover gaskets not look like 11328 and 11338 below? Looks like there are spots there for the two pipe flanges to seal to if they bolt to the back of the timing cover.
If not, they will only take a few moments to make out of gasket paper, or you could probably fake it with the right gasket maker.
I'm kind of curious what videos you're seeing. Sometimes Toyota uses FIPG in place of a gasket in different locations, and it can be hard to convince people that there really is no gasket for whatever they're working on.
