2004 Vibe GT possible oil leaks ???

[tpollauf]

Ok guys/gals. I finally need some advise and guidance as I'm about to tear into the 2ZZ-GE engine for some minor repairs. It has a pretty good oil leak (first pic) and the prior owner was sure it was the Timing chain tensioner assembly (pn- 13450-0D010) and even supplied me with the part. So up on the lift it went for an inspection to see what I was up against. Upon cleaning up all the oil I noticed that the location of the tensioner assy was very clean (second pic) and literally NO oil coming from it. I then looked over the path of "oil slinging" to where it was dripping from, and it appears to be coming from the Timing gear cover oil seal (final pic). I plan on running the engine a bit to recreate leaking and verify this. Is this another common source for oil leaks on the 2ZZ engine? This 2004 Vibe GT only has 127k miles on it. I'll report back in a day or two when I get back to the shop with what I found. Thanks guys ....................... Tim


This oil leak wass from 2-3 days sitting in the shop


This pic was taken looking up at engine towards passenger side.

[Caretaker]

as you already know T, I just had this repair (timing gear cover gasket) done to my car. $2,000 stinkin' bucks to lift my engine out just to replace a couple of stupid rubber gaskets. I couldn't even get my mechanics to do any other work while the engine was out (ie: replace all the mounts); nothing extra needed to be done. My mechanic, who is excellent, said it is quite common on the Corolla engines. He said the robot did a poor job of applying the gasket sealent and had seen and heard of a lot of these repairs. I sometimes wonder if I should have dumped the car. Every time (and each time it has been a Corolla) I spend $2,000 for a "major" repair, I end up having to ditch the car soon after, wasting the money I put in to it. I'm crossing my fingers this won't be the case this time. I can't say anything regarding the Camry engines; I just can tell you what I've been told about the Corollas.
Despite stemming this minor oil seepage, my car continues to drink oil like the world is coming to an end.

[tpollauf]

as you already know T, I just had this repair (timing gear cover gasket) done to my car. $2,000 stinkin' bucks to lift my engine out just to replace a couple of stupid rubber gaskets.

Ouch !!! Yeah I do remember you posting that. From what I remember inspecting, there was heavy oil/sludge all around the crankshaft pulley and not the gasket areas. I'm hoping in my case that it is just a bad seal and NOT gaskets. No matter what I'll be performing this work myself and saving a ton of $$$.

[Caretaker]

yep, the oil seeped down and coated the drive belt pulleys. The oil never reached the ground, but I noticed it after enough dirt had clung to the oily areas.

[jolt]

I would spray the whole wet looking area down with brake cleaner to get rid of the oil from the surfaces. This will dry the surface off. Then I would run the engine for 10 minutes at a time checking the surfaces for new wet spots to locate where the oil is coming from. Do not drive the car as the air blowing under and around the car can spread the oil to other areas and make it hard to find where the leak is coming from. If the oil leak is bad enough, it will wash the area of the leak clean and where the dirt build up is may not be where the oil is leaking from. It is best to get the thing dry with brake cleaner and catch the oil leak at its source. Good luck hunting!

[tpollauf]

Update on what I found. It is definitely not the timing chain tensioner, nor the timing gear oil seal, but apparently the timing chain cover gasket (exactly what happened to Caretaker ) Only on the rear of the engine, front side is dry! See attached image. Lost the lift until the weekend so I'll do another extensive cleaning & test then. Will create a special "pipe cleaner" type cleaning mechanism to better clean off all oil so I can be more specific on the nature of the leak. Stay tuned .....................................................

[zbyers]

Update on what I found. It is definitely not the timing chain tensioner, nor the timing gear oil seal, but apparently the timing chain cover gasket (exactly what happened to Caretaker ) Only on the rear of the engine, front side is dry! See attached image. Lost the lift until the weekend so I'll do another extensive cleaning & test then. Will create a special "pipe cleaner" type cleaning mechanism to better clean off all oil so I can be more specific on the nature of the leak. Stay tuned .....................................................

That is exactly where mine leaked from. A few hours with Dr. Zane and it was good to go again. Was not very fun.

[tpollauf]

Updating my post here since this repair will be happening real soon. First off, I purchased a nice "cheap" snake camera with bluetooth for looking in tight areas and snapping photos to my phone. This tool more than verifies where the oil leak is on my 2004 Vibe GT. Look over the photos as they explain everything..........................

[zbyers]

Definitely looks like it is the timing cover!

[tpollauf]

Final update. Problem officially fixed Due to my schedule, and a recent injury (cutoff saw & leg flesh ... the saw won ) I was unable to make this repair myself. My buddy, old high school friend, who owns a local garage, has been slow due to the corvid-19 situation and he agreed to take on this project. They are more familiar with the engine, have more specialty tools, and needed the work! That's a no-brainer to me. The kicker is that it only cost me $480 in labor to have the following done to my 2004 Vibe GT:

-Remove timing chain cover and repair oil leak (they said it wasn't too bad. Belt tensioner was the toughest component to remove)
-while opened up, inspected all internal timing components (very good condition) and thoroughly cleaned all surfaces
-when reassembling, they recommended a new water pump due to the mileage/age and the fact that the system was open. I said OK
-flushed & added new Asian pink coolant to the system
-replaced worn safety neutral switch on the clutch pedal. Starting the car was becoming a problem due to this safety switch

I provided all gaskets, sealants & serpentine belt. They provided water pump, neutral switch, and coolant.

$597 was the grand total. Extremely happy with that

[zbyers]

Glad to hear it's been taken care of! I reallly need to do this to mine too, still.

Did replacing that clutch safety switch fix your cruise issue?

[tpollauf]

Did replacing that clutch safety switch fix your cruise issue?

Haven't tried it yet. I'll let you know soon

[MikeReilly]

I think if I ever have an issue like this I'll drive down to Mexico and have the work done there. Might as well get dental work while I'm at it.

[tpollauf]

I think if I ever have an issue like this I'll drive down to Mexico and have the work done there. Might as well get dental work while I'm at it.

Good one

Had I not gone to a technical vocational "all male" high school 40+ years ago, I would not have the close professional contacts of friends working in a variety of skilled trades. Very valuable as we go through life and we all help each other out where possible.