Losing half a quart of oil a day, bad leak!

[eagerinsight]

My 93 Camry 2.2, has been leaking about a half quart of oil a day. When the car is running or hot I can see an oil drip about one drip per second! So I think I found the culprit, the oil pump seal. Looking at the front of the engine the leak looks like its coming from the left side behind the timing belt cover.

Since I'm almost positive the oil pump seal is the problem, is there anyway to replace the seal with out having to go through the same procedure used to replace the timing belt? Can I remove the belt covers, loosen the tensioner then pull the oil pump?

[abew330]

maybe try cleaning the engine and see where the leak is coming from for sure

[finfinder]

Mine did the same thing. The oil pump seal leak is VERY common on gen3 Camrys. Cam seal too. You should just pull the cover fix it right the first time. How long since your last timing belt change ? Water pump ? You'd really hate to change out one seal then another starts leaking. The parts aren't that expensive but if you gotta pull all that stuff off you may as well make it worth your while.

[Gibson99]

not to mention that when your oil pump is leaking that much, it's getting oil on the timing belt, which ruins the belt. it doesn't make it slip, but it softens the rubber and shortens its life - it WILL break before the 60k change interval.

don't cheap out - do it right the first time! replace the timing belt, cam seal, front crank seal, and BOTH of the oil pump seals. you can get a t-belt and all but the oil pump o-ring at your local parts store for less than the dealer. Gates is a good quality belt.

[eagerinsight]

Had the timing belt replaced about a year ago, the leak started about 4 months ago, I wasn't around to change the belt myself so my parents sent it to Meineke.

Stupid question, when I replace the belt do I have to jack the engine up or can I do all the work with the engine in its place?

[Gibson99]

Originally Posted by eagerinsight

Had the timing belt replaced about a year ago, the leak started about 4 months ago, I wasn't around to change the belt myself so my parents sent it to Meineke.

Stupid question, when I replace the belt do I have to jack the engine up or can I do all the work with the engine in its place?

not a stupid question - how would you know that info unless someone just told you or you'd done the job before? no you don't have to jack up the engine. only have to raise the RF corner of the car so you can take the wheel off.

Originally Posted by JJJJJJ

Gibson got stuck at the airport with a snapped belt.

actually it was my mom... but it WAS my old 88 camry... in like 1995!! i'm amazed you guys remember this stuff from that long ago!

[eagerinsight]

I've read up on dz63's DIY for replacing the timing belt and he mentions it took him 14 hours to do (8 hours if he had to do it again) is this about right? I've replaced timing belts on my Honda's (93 Civic and 00 Accord) and it usually takes about 5 hours with the help of my impact gun, but I noticed that there is much less room between the timing belt cover and wheel well on Honda's than the 5S-FE in my 93.

[Gibson99]

I've seen one done in literally 23 minutes. Granted that was a guy that's been doing it for 20 years professionally, and it was a belt change only - no seals. Fastest I've ever done one myself without seals is about an hour. WITH seals fastest i've done it is 1.5 hours when i was a mechanic at a dealership. at home, taking my time, using all hand tools i did it in about 4 hours, but i was taking my time and cleaning everything up real nice. since you've done timing belts before you should be fairly familiar with the process and how everything goes together, so you can prolly do it in 5-6 hours if not faster. depends on how "pretty" you want it to look when you're done.

[eagerinsight]

Quick update, no more leak. I replaced the timing belt, water pump, seals and valve cover gasket. I think I found the source of the leak, the oil pump housing had 2 loose (hand loose) screws and I could tell oil was leaking from the looks of the gasket side of the housing. The valve cover got loose some how, the four spark plug tube nuts were also loose I was able to remove 2 of there by hand.

One concern the rotor of the oil pump rotor had a slight grove around it, where the seal meets the rotor, is this normal, or a potential problem down the road? I'm having trouble finding someone who sells just the rotor and not the entire pump, anyone know where I can buy one if needed?

[deddy]

Toyota dealer sells the rotor set (rotor and lobed gear). About $40.00 - $45.00

I replaced the same parts. Here's my writeup:

Timing Belt, Water Pump, etc. - What I learned