GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I need your advice. I have a very SLIGHT oil leak from my 2004 Base Automatic Vibe. My mechanic checked the usual places and ruled them out. The leak is more toward the passenger side and he thinks it could be a gasket under the timing cover. Have any of you had this problem? What do you think? He suggests I just monitor it unless the leak worsens. He thinks the fix would be removing the front end to get under the timing cover which would be expensive to access.

Bump

If the area that you are talking about, is where the Cyldinder Head, Timing Chain Cover, and Cylinder Block, all come together - known as the 3 point area, then this is a somewhat normal condition. I have it on both my Vibes, and my daughters, and mothers as well. Typically, this will show up as a "damp" spot, only where dust has attached itself to the slight weepage of oil. One of mine has 187,000 miles on it, and has had this condition, without it worsening, for over 3 years. Unless you have a sufficient leak that produces a drip, I would not be worried about it. My 2.5 cents

Sounds like seepage from the timing belt tensioner, a common problem.Do a little searching and you'll find DIY instructions.Not difficult.

Thanks for the info. I will check on that.

Quote, originally posted by circuitsmith »Sounds like seepage from the timing belt tensioner, a common problem.Do a little searching and you'll find DIY instructions.Not difficult.found a video of a guy fixing the oil leak... i have to do this on a side job on a 2003 vibe awd.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS423KsMbxk

Are the bolts accessible without removing anything? I had a slight oil leak on our 97 caravan from the oil pan. A few bolts were loose. Tightened them up & leak was gone.

Thanks for the video!

Quote, originally posted by cptnsolo77 »Are the bolts accessible without removing anything? I had a slight oil leak on our 97 caravan from the oil pan. A few bolts were loose. Tightened them up & leak was gone.yup 2 nuts and it comes right out. i could see it clear as day when i was underneath it, jus no room the get arms in there from below. waiting on oring before i pull it out. my dad works at a pontiac dealer and he said this was a common problem.

455SD !

Thank you for your post
I have a slight leakage around the area that you mentioned.(3 point area)
it is different than timing belt tensioner leakage.

I think it is somewhere close to the passenger side head cylinder and timing belt cover and Cylinder block.
many times I cleaned it with brake cleaner spray.
but after a few months it came back.

right now it is not so much but if it gets worse. which part should be changed ?

There's an O-ring around the timing chain tensioner. You'll want to look at a guide on how to replace it. Takes about 15 minutes on a hot engine (where you have to avoid burning yourself).

I am not sure I am right but Timing chain tensioner is in the rear side of the engine while the place that 455SD was talking about is in front of the engine

you mean little bit oil in the place that 455SD was mentioned (3 point area) is also related to Timing chain tensioner ?
can oil come from rear side all over to the front side ?

Update:
I checked the timing chain tensioner location.
there was oil leakage around it. not so much
but probably dripped oil spread out by belt and goes around that 3 point area
I guess !

There's also an OCV and a filter on the front, passenger's, top part of the engine, it's on the head. http://au.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/t ... strainers/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thank you for hint !
After I changed timing chain tensioner I also checked out ocv filter I just cleaned it with Brake Cleaner it was clean though.
Maybe I need to change its gasket.
That OCV filter is exactly above the place that I see some dirt (3 point area)