96 Camry oil leak after timing belt change!

[Boo Boo Kitty]

Hello all,

I have a 96 Camry (LE 4 cyl 2.2 l engine) with 193K miles on it. Two weeks ago, I had the timing belt changed for the second time in the 'life' of the car. (First time, it was 10 years ago at around 94K miles with no issues) The dealership replaced the timing belt, the water pump and all of the other belts on the car at a tune of 800 bucks (ouch) One week later, the car is leaking oil at a pretty consistent drip. Oddly enough, the oil stick says the level is full everytime I check it. How that's possible, I don't know. I checked all of the other fluids in the car and they are full as well. I took it to a local shop that I trust but they were unable to pinpoint the location of the leak nor do they have the means to fix it. They showed me the car on the lift and the entire area beneath the engine is covered in oil with the car leaving a few drips and a small puddle on the shop floor. The leak appears to be in the left of the engine compartment (driver side) and around the middle/lower section of the engine. I'm not keen on taking it back to the dealership because they wanted to charge me 500 dollars to clean and replace one ripped CV boot in addition to the timing belt/water pump charges. I refused and took the car to my local shop. They charged me 240 and replaced the inner/outer boots and the CV joint. The oil leak started one week after all of these repairs. Any suggestions where the leak could be coming from?

Thank you for your help!
Melissa

[hill8570]

Kind of a strange one -- normally if a timing belt job caused an oil leak, I'd expect to see the drip on the passenger side of the engine (coming from the crank, cam, or oil pump seals). And a CV boot replacement shouldn't go anywhere near the engine oil.

Is the drip continuous, or does it just leave some drips overnight when you park it? The first should show on the dipstick pretty quickly -- the second takes a while.

Sure it's engine oil? Three main fluids that can leak are (1) coolant (which is usually red or green on a Camry, depending on what's currently in the system -- check the overflow tank on the passenger side to see what color you have) (2) Transmission oil -- either red or brown-ish depending on age (3) Engine oil, all the way from clear / honey colored to black depending on age. Often hard to tell apart immediately, although they smell pretty different.

I'd first try to get a real good idea which fluid is leaking -- keep checking the transmission, engine oil, and coolant overflow. Once you've got an ID, then someone needs to clean off that motor so the leak can be traced better.

[Boo Boo Kitty]

Originally Posted by hill8570

Kind of a strange one -- normally if a timing belt job caused an oil leak, I'd expect to see the drip on the passenger side of the engine (coming from the crank, cam, or oil pump seals). And a CV boot replacement shouldn't go anywhere near the engine oil.

Is the drip continuous, or does it just leave some drips overnight when you park it? The first should show on the dipstick pretty quickly -- the second takes a while.

Sure it's engine oil? Three main fluids that can leak are (1) coolant (which is usually red or green on a Camry, depending on what's currently in the system -- check the overflow tank on the passenger side to see what color you have) (2) Transmission oil -- either red or brown-ish depending on age (3) Engine oil, all the way from clear / honey colored to black depending on age. Often hard to tell apart immediately, although they smell pretty different.

I'd first try to get a real good idea which fluid is leaking -- keep checking the transmission, engine oil, and coolant overflow. Once you've got an ID, then someone needs to clean off that motor so the leak can be traced better.

Thanks! It definitely seems like motor oil. It's clearish/honey colored and thin. (Was just changed two weeks ago along with the timing belt) The overflow is full and the fluid inside is red. Power steering, transmission and brake fluids are full also. The oil drips seem to happen more when the car has started. There will be some left over dripping when the car is off. Stumped as to where it's from.

[dave1811]

I would try to spray off the bottom real good to see if you could pinpoint the source. I have a Gen 4 but I am not sure but I think I recall that the Gen 3 have a o ring seal near the distributor or on the distributor somewhere that is prone to leak? The only other thing I would think on the driver's side would be maybe the valve cover gasket leaking on that side or a worst case maybe the rear main seal?

Good luck and let us know if you figure it out.

[hill8570]

Boy, with that big of a leak, you'd think this would be a slam dunk to figure out, especially if it were up on a lift.

Is the driver's side of the engine fresh-oily, especially under the distributor? There's an o-ring in the distributor that leaks after a while, but it tends to be a seeper more than a dripper.

Another possibility is the valve cover gasket -- you normally get that seeping along the firewall side of the valve cover, but it's possible to get it to leak other places. Check for fresh oil all around the perimeter of the valve cover. Again, this is more of a seeper than a dripper, usually.

A real long shot is the o-ring for the oil cooler -- it's right under the oil filter. Generally, it would leak down the front of the engine and drip passenger side front.

The oil pan seal is all around the perimeter of the oil pan -- if the bottom of the engine was wiped down / degreased well, it should be easy to find a big leak like this from the oil pan gasket.

I suppose the oil drain plug could be leaking, but can't imagine it dripping. Guess it would be worth wiping off and checking.

The rear main can leak like a sieve when it gets a mind to, but it's generally not real common to have it leak (which is good, 'cause it's expensive to get to). It'd be leaking at the junction of the engine and the transmission (if you see leakage in that area, make sure it isn't coming from the distributor or valve cover.

The other three leakers are the cam, crank, and oil pump seals, but they're going to leak out from the bottom of the timing belt cover on the passenger side of the car.

Good luck with this. With most leaks, I usually recommend cleaning off the engine first before trying to trace the leak, but something this big should be easy just by finding the source of the fresh oil.

[JohnGD]

Oil leaks can travel to other locations and can be hard to pinpoint. Have the shop clean up the leak, put some UV dye in the engine, drive around the block a couple of times and use a UV light to check for the source of the leak. A properly equipped shop should have a UV detection kit. It may be pressure related since running the engine seems to cause it to drip more.

If the leak is found between the engine and transmission then it could be the rear main seal. The shop can remove the flywheel/flex plate cover to check. Maybe it's the oil pan that's causing the problem at that spot, among the possible culprits.

If the leak came from the timing belt area then check the lower timing belt cover behind the crank pulley. What's the highest spot where the shop can see the leaking oil?

Originally Posted by Boo Boo Kitty

I took it to a local shop that I trust but they were unable to pinpoint the location of the leak nor do they have the means to fix it. They showed me the car on the lift and the entire area beneath the engine is covered in oil with the car leaving a few drips and a small puddle on the shop floor. The leak appears to be in the left of the engine compartment (driver side) and around the middle/lower section of the engine.

[holmesnmanny]

I'm having a problem understanding the timeline. You said you had the timing belt change, then there was a leak, but in the meantime you had another shop working on the axle. Can you fix the timeline just a bit? Obviously if there wasn't a leak until after someone worked on it, you know who caused it.

Keep in mind there are lots of shady mechanics out there. I've had people work on my timing belt and seals before and it was clear they didn't change any of the seals because they all started leaking along with the water pump they were supposed to change out within a year.