Warning! 2008 highlander oil leak

[sienna2011]

Holy cow, I have some major oil leak on my 2008 Limited highlander this morning! On our way back from church, I noticed a "low engine pressure" message pop up for a couple of seconds and then it went away. When we reached our driveway, I saw a big puddle of oil where the vehicle was parked at the previous night, underneath the engine on the right side (left side if you are in front facing the vehicle). I immediately stopped the engine and looked underneath the hood and lo and behold, the right side of the engine is soaked with oil. I know the leak is not coming from the oil pan as there is oil even on the underside of the hood. I added about 1 quart of oil and started the engine to see where the leak is coming from and there is a steady stream of oil (not just dripping) coming from the right side of the engine. Turned off the engine, went online to do research and saw this post:

2GR-FEV6 LSC 90K (recall) oil line fails-Dealer won't cover damages-WARNING !!

Will contact Toyota first thing tomorrow morning.

PS - I've religiously brought the vehicle to Toyota dealerships for oil change every 5k miles, up to 36k. Had the 40k done at Firestone and have been doing the oil change myself at 45k and 50k. Mileage is currently at 54k. Had the oil hose replacement done in June 2010.

Here are photos:

oil puddle where vehicle was previously parked


Oil dripping as I backed the truck


New oil puddle


Underneath front right tire


Oil splatter on wheel well


Oil splatter near beneath the hood


Oil is leaking somewhere on the right side of the engine, where the belts are at


Hose replacement done in June 2010

[sweeneyp]

well shit...that really REALLY sucks, i hate to hear this....

I have been terrified of this happening to mine for awhile now, its like a ticking time bomb. I had the line replaced with the new rubber one, but wanted to get the all metal one (that wasn't part of the recall).
sounds like its leaking right where that rubber hose is that was replaced in the recall. Its in that corner where you took the 2nd to last pic....seems like the new hoses are lasting about a year and a half...not good (mine was replaced august 2010, 25k miles ago).
Think you can keep us in the loop about what the dealer does?

[sienna2011]

Will post updates on this thread...

[Paul3637]

Thank goodness you are still under warranty. Your only potential problem is ancillary engine damage that does not show up until post warranty but Toyota will in fact cover that .... although you may have to fight for it so to speak and I sure hope you don't have to go through the fiasco I posted in several forums incuding:

2GR-FE V6 LSC90K (recall) oil line fails-Dealer won't cover damages-WARNING

Did your engine make any noises that would indicate engine damage?

Whatever you do, do not drive the thing .. have it towed. Do not even start the engine again to pull it onto a flat bed tow truck unless the oil level is safe.

Your pictures are great. Now .... if you can (I may be too late here) take one more. The oil line at issue is easy to see by looking down at the engine on the passenger side towards the firewall (you don't need to take off the cover over the engine to see it). The question now for the other 1.5 million of us driving these ticking time bombs is whether these failures are due to the dealer not performing the LSC 90K "recall" service or whether the "improved" rubber hose may actually be worse than the defective rubber hoses they replaced.

The new rubber hose has a yellow stripe on it. I was able to follow the instructions in the Rav4 forum

http://www.rav4world.com/forums/96-4...warning-2.html

see post #15

and inspect my enigne accordingly and it does have the correct part.

In your case, it would be interesting to see a picture of the oil line .... does it have the yellow stripe ????? Did the hose itself rupture or did the clamps that hold it on come loose ??????

It appears you had the recall done at Toyota of Plano ... unless Carlos switched employers (he is now pictured on the website of with Scion of Plano at the same address). Look at this ripoff at that dealership so not sure I would trust them

2009 Toyota Highlander Limited: 30000-mile service maintenance

When I looked at your receipt, I notice when they changed your oil - THEY USED THE WRONG OIL !!!!!!! They put in 5W20 rather than factory recommended 5W30 as noted on your oil cap. If they screwed that one up, who knows what they did with the recall.

Please go here to get a full picture of this fiasco:

http://sites.google.com/site/toyotav6oillinescandal/

I will update that website for your situation !!!!!!

[sienna2011]

Paul,

Thank you for your post and links, I was wanting to get more information on this before contacting the Toyota dealership, although I did send their Corporate office the link for this thread. I am also not sure if I should use the free towing I have from my insurance or have Toyota do it.

I'll take pictures at lunchtime and contact the Toyota dealership afterwards. Will be posting new photos...

[sweeneyp]

Originally Posted by Paul3637

When I looked at your receipt, I notice when they changed your oil - THEY USED THE WRONG OIL !!!!!!! They put in 5W20 rather than factory recommended 5W30 as noted on your oil cap. If they screwed that one up, who knows what they did with the recall.

ok edited original post, had it backwards (sorry haha). 5w20 is for non tow package equipped HL's and 5w30 is for tow package equipped HL's. It shouldn't hurt the engine to use 5w20 as the 2GR-FE is designed to use it in some models (its what the camry v6 (same motor) uses.).

[sienna2011]

Here are the photos I took, not sure if this is the correct hose:









And to answer your question "Did your engine make any noises that would indicate engine damage?", NO, there were no noises and the last time the engine was running (when I checked for leak), it sounded normal.

[sweeneyp]

yep that's the VVTI hose, and I believe that's the yellow strip on the last pic indicating its the new recall hose.

[Paul3637]

Originally Posted by sweeneyp

yep that's the VVTI hose, and I believe that's the yellow strip on the last pic indicating its the new recall hose.

Click this link to my photobucket account and the picture of my LSC 90K oil line replacement hose I just took.

http://s586.photobucket.com/albums/s...LineLSC90K.jpg

My yellow line is on the top and very visible and looks more like the one shown in the Rav4 forum post #15.

http://www.rav4world.com/forums/96-4...warning-2.html

My car is an 09 Camry V6 and the "under the hood" layout seems to resemble more closely the Highlander than the Rav4.

Please compare mine, the Rav4, and Sienna2011's and tell me what you think !! I just don't see the same kind of yellow line in the picture posted by Sienna.

[sweeneyp]

now that i look at it that yellow is text and not the line like I thought. sienna2011 just updated his post with clearer pics it looks like at 1:43, after I posted that. Before the pic was kinda blurry and the text blended together and looked like the line. Though the composition of the line looks similar to the new one(it has those notches on top of the line like the new one does), though I don't know if the old one has it or not.
i was looking at this pic he posted,thinking it was the line, it was kinda blurry to tell at quick glance:

[lucky777]

This is really serious and possible deadly issue. I don't understand why Toyota doesn't wants to spend just a little more money here on durable all metal part. Do they really want to go with another publicity nightmare after someone burns to death because of the oil leak inside of the engine compartment? Make sure that you log this with NTSB, if enough people complain than NTSB will be forced to investigate.

[AVConsult]

yeah....this issue is deeply disturbing.... I look at the hose (mine was done in 2010) every few weeks for any swelling/deformation. It would be great if sienna could get a photo of the failed portion of the hose after the dealer removes it. Am guessing the chances of that are .00001%. Toy will in CYA mode.

[Paul3637]

Looks like you can just take the pictures of the correct LSC 90K oil hose from my photobucket account and the Rav4 forum post #15 (above) and tell that your recall service was either never performed ..... or performed with the wrong part.

Insist that the dealer save the old part.

When dealing with Toyota ....... I would think Toyota would make the dealer pay for the repairs if they did not perform the recall service. If the supplier of the part provided the wrong one ...... Toyota is responsible and their recourse is to go to the supplier.

GOOD LUCK AND KEEP US POSTED.

[I speculated the reason the Rav4 busted oil line that started all this was that the service was never performed. Now I am sure of it after seeing your mess.]

[AVConsult]

Oops, missed the photos of the replacement hose.

And, a interesting PDF I found when Googling "KK20 OIL ACM FKM"

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...QPadNf9dU-sw_w

[sienna2011]

I actually can't see any rupture from the photos. Based on the RAV4 photos, the flange shouldn't be showing. Is it possible that the rupture or loosening is on the other end of the hose? I like to try to take a video of the hose while the engine is running to find out if it is actually leaking but I don't want to damage my engine, if it hasn't been damaged at all. I probably drove a total of 8 miles when we went to church last Sunday.