Oil Leaks and Timing Belts - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

drugal · 11-04-2003, 12:53 AM

Hi, I've got another small problem, and I'm looking for help. Since I've had this car, I've noticed an oil leak coming out of the bottom of my timing belt cover, and recently it has gotten pretty bad, resulting in small puddles on the ground and a huge mess all over my axle/control arm/other things around there.

The last recorded timing belt change was at 240k, and I'm up to 336k now, so I was planning on changing it myself soon, and looking into that oil leak. I put about 1000km on it per month. I'm guessing that an oiled timing belt isn't a good thing.

A horrible metal-rubbing-on-metal (I think) noise has come up at the same time as well, coming from the mid-lower engine area. The funny thing is that it only appears when I'm idling, or rolling to a stop in neutral. If I rev the engine up in neutral or with the clutch in, it goes away as soon as I touch the gas, and also disappears as soon as I accelerate, and maintain speed in gear. It's loud enough to turn heads from nearby people, and sounds *bad*. Could these two things be related? Do I have pieces of gasket and oil flying around my timing belt chamber? Both of these problems appeared as soon as temperatures dropped below 0 degrees Celsius.

It's an '89 3S-FE 5spd Camry. Thanks for your help!

Nick · 11-04-2003, 12:56 AM

well pop that cover off and find out...

do your timing belt 4000kms early...

UGOS · 11-04-2003, 10:51 AM

its your oil pump seal ,probably has a groove worn in the oil pump shaft, i would replace , the pump seal and put a new
oil pump impeller & rotor,timing belt and front main seal.

ive done 3 or so , not bad after doing one.

watch the marks on the rotor , look at manual.

alex · 11-04-2003, 11:14 AM

i recently just had to replace:

oil cooler o ring
crankcase gasket
valvecover gasket
cam gear gasket
timingbelt and gasket
headgasket

pretty much every freakin gasket in the thing

but no oil leaks now....unlike it used to

i had the exact same problem

Nico · 11-04-2003, 05:41 PM

I had the same problem as well, oil pump seal. And I don't think it is possible to buy it without a new oil pump.

UGOS · 11-04-2003, 05:47 PM

yes you can buy just the seal from toyota, i wouldnt buy any thing else but toyota, its probably a good idea to buy the impeller and rotor as it usually have a groove wore in the shaft.

drugal · 11-05-2003, 05:04 PM

Thanks for your suggestions. I'll try to take it apart this Friday, and see exactly what's wrong with it.

drugal · 11-08-2003, 02:03 PM

This might be a stupid question, but here goes: to remove the crankshaft pulley bolt on my 3S-FE, I turn the bolt counter-clockwise, right? It's not reverse threaded, or anything weird? I can't get the thing to move.

Nick · 11-08-2003, 05:33 PM

eat your spinich!!! :p

or take a steel pipe, slide it on your ratchet and use it as leverage

benny1 · 08-15-2006, 06:59 AM

it is very tight
i dunno if this is the right or best way to do it but i put a spaner or ratchet on it rest it againt the chassis rail n hit the key for bout .1 or a second it just cracks the bolt then it should just come out
PS this is not my prefered method but it worked 4 me the other day when i done my car
n i do no it isnt a good thing to do

ghettosled · 08-15-2006, 11:57 AM

wow, i hope they fixed the oil leak because this thread is 3 YEARS old.