max ride 41

iTrader: (4)

i was at the dealer and was having them check on a tc leak and the guy said if it's the rear it a $300.00 part and 11 hours labor??? he said that's a common mistake that's bit them in the azz a few times. now, i know this guy, he's cool as hell and is'nt trying to rip me off but says the rear tc cover's crack and leak little to no oil, but my tc's wet in the front??? any truth's to what he's saying?? thanks

DennisMik

iTrader: (2)

What you say he's saying doesn't make sense. To start with, you say you had the car at the dealer to have the oil leak checked out. Their answer was essentially "we don't know, maybe we'll replace the cover for $300 plus 11 hours labor." Then you are saying that they are talking about a rear cover leak but you have oil towards the front.

Sorry, I can't follow that correctly, so I'll try a general comment. If the oil leak is towards the front and not at the very edge, maybe it is the camshaft sensor o-ring that is leaking.

Could you post a photo of the oil leak?

max ride 41

iTrader: (4)

camshaft o-ring was re-placed awhile ago. the leak is coming out of the front of the tc cover and dripping on the alternator. god knows why he's saying it could be the rear?? i guess he does work for a dealer after all....

DennisMik

iTrader: (2)

Just because someone works for a dealer does not guarantee anything - brain farts or whatever.

But as for your oil leak. I would clean the area real good and see where the oil starts to re-appear. The valve cover could be leaking in the front corner.

neosmatrix

iTrader: (2)

If your valve cover gasket is leaking oil into the alternator, you need to replace that gasket now!!

Before it does bad things to the alternator (Take it from me, mine leaked (For how long no body knows) but mine shorted out the alternator and fried it).

Saying that, I would do both the front and rear valve covers and tube seals at the same time (Thats why they are sold in a set)
S
YMMV

max ride 41

iTrader: (4)

nope, did that 2 and a half years ago and its def not dripping from that. put a felpro gasket set in, valve covers are dry. its dripping from front of tc cover right onto the alty, i'll try to take a pic so you can see. i asked a guy who worked on race engines if he could fix it and he said, " o, you should just buy a new car".

D.Stillwell

Yeah I second the need for pics to really diagnose this, oil leaks can be a rather tricky ordeal to figure out exactly where the leak is sometimes especially if the leak has been there for some time without anyone noticing and has had time to build up gunk, then it becomes really hard.

So take a pic now. And also, I'm almost inclined to say that if the leak isn't too bad, I would likely just try to do a DIY quick fix, cover the alternator (they sell thermal covers made specially for alternators and starters and you can use one of those perfectly, or something like that). And keep driving the car with the leak, basically depends on how bad the leak is.

Sometimes at this stage with your amount of miles, I recommend just forgetting it. If it's a small leak and the car runs fine without losing much oil, just forget it and run it till it dies. That's what happened to my dad's old Camry v6, he had about same mileage as yours like 260k and he had a very small oil leak for a while, so I told him no point to fix it when it costs as much as the car just drive it like it is and it'll be OK for a long time until the oil starts getting real bad.

Long story short, my dad drove that camry for two more years to 300k miles and then it was still running no problem, and he still traded it in and got some money for it! So to make my point, look at your leak and really try to gauge the cost of repair vs. cost of car. Maybe it's time for a new engine? You can find a real decent engine w/ about 80k miles or so for like $2000 and do a 3.5 swap?

Sounds so tempting, almost makes me want to do it, almost.

Trini Boom

iTrader: (5)

Listen to me, if you have an oil leak that is coming from the timing cover at either the alternator side or the power steering pump side, the gasket is weakening and the front cover needs to be resealed. When was the last time this was done? Also, if you have excessive oil under the power steering pump and on the oil pressure switch and it is not your rear valve covers leaking, then your rear timing cover O-rings are shot and needs to be replaced which is a $5 part. The entire front and rear timing covers along with all timing components need to be removed. Extensive work but could get costly.

max ride 41

iTrader: (4)

i have a cover i made for the alty 2 years ago out of roofing tin. i can't see under the car, but the timing cover leak has been there for about 6 years and has'nt gotten really any worse. i will take pics today.