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Need help! Oil leaking passenger side ..cam seals??
Hi everyone . New to lexus and on the forums. I recently got this 05 lexus ls430 with about 195k km or 120k miles and been doing all the maintenance. I had leak coming down the passenger side on to the driveway and seems like it's all over the alternator, p/s pump and rack and pinion. Spent a good day degreasing and cleaning off all the oil.
I read alot about the common valve cover bolts coming loose, so I tightened them all which didnt fix it. I ordered a new valve cover gasket and that didnt work. I thought I might have messed it up or pinched it somewhere, so I ordered yet another gasket again and torqued everything to spec..... which didnt work. So I ruled that out as the leak.
The leak is in a very tight and hard to see spot. It is kind of between the valve cover and the under the timing belt cover? If that's what it's called.
After cleaning. I had it running for 30 mins gave it some revs and shut off for an hour and didnt see the leak. I tried using Inspection mirror. It seems to happen overnight.
I'm really hoping it's not an expensive repair or labour Intensive jobs.
Is there anything on the manifold? I have a leak that's similar, although after I cleaned it up, no more in dunno 750 miles. I'm thinking in my case valve cover gasket and potentially that front passenger bolt, and the one on most forward in middle of cover. All the bolts on my car were loose. Even though I don't think that tightening is a cure, maybe it helps, dunno.
Similar mileage. I've had the car almost 3.5 years and it's likely been leaking all this time (2006 with 123k now), but everything is covered top and bottom so no hint except I saw grime on the rack. At the same time no oil needs to be added. I just went on a 400 mile trip and figure good time to recheck with highway miles, and don't see any change in level or any mess.
How does yours make it to the driveway, and is there a chance you made it worse when you did the gasket? Maybe you should bring the car to the indie and now the leak is their problem? (meaning they'd do it and leak is gone, but if it weren't, they have to redo)
No nothing leaking on to the manifold, I didn't have to top up oil either since its not a huge leak, But the oil does build up and drip down to the splash shield, and onto the driveway now everyday,.. I kinda ruled out that it isn't the Valve cover gasket since i checked all around it and wiped the edges to see.
I have attached two videos. Not sure if they are working but its gives a better idea then the pictures..
May not be the same issue as yours but it's worth mentioning...
I have a small amount of oil in the exact same place. My initial fear was cam seal but I removed the timing cover and it's bone dry underneath. Turns out my PS hose, between the reservoir and pump, is brittle and cracking where it connects to the union tube. The leaking fluid has been scattered by the air generated from the spinning serp belt and nearby PS pulley. I have the hose and OE clamps, as well as the little O ring for the union, but I haven't replaced them yet. I'm not losing sleep over it now that I know exactly what's happening...
Your PS union looks dry but you might want to take a second look...? The timing cover isn't difficult to remove. Pull it off and report back
*Side note for anyone else reading this- the OE hose is only available from Lexus for about $45. It's an odd size 15mm ID so bulk 5/8" ID hose from a parts store is too big to fit properly.
The small amount of flex from engine movement is not healthy on your 15 to 20 yr old brittle hose.
Rockauto sells it for $10.78- https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...432014&jsn=361
It seems really difficult to pinpoint leaks based on how confined everything is, but playing the odds people seem to say cam seals at this mileage is not likely. If so, it would be better to be at the 180k timing belt change, not 123k like me or 120k like you. I also believe that because everything is covered top and bottom, something can leak slowly and accumulate over a very long time. Any significant leak would need oil to be added, especially something between changes. I drove around with my covers off at least 3 weeks and decided to put them back on until next time.....
If you drove with your bottom covers off, you would get oil every day? Then again, if you've never removed the cover, then I would take it off, clean it, and leave it off, and now check daily. Could be what you have dripping is years of buildup. Again, I suspect mine has been this way since I got it. If we're lucky, we can address at the 180k timing belt change....
Generally this will be the PS leak...it's in a bad spot because it leaks on the alternator. Get it checked out asap. When it happened to me I had to replace the power steering pump and a few months later the alternator. Fortunately I caught it in time on our SC430 but knew it was only a matter of time so kept an eye out for it.
Thanks for the advice and suggestions!
i really hope it is maybe as simple as a hose leaking and oil spraying up from the belt and pulleys.. but i doubt it since it cleaned off everything nice and dry and after driving around and going on highway for 30 mins it was still dry last night. It wasn't until the next morning when i checked it was wet again, so it has to be leaking slowly all night.
I doubt its from years of build up because i cleaned everything up nicely except the harder to reach spot, and the oil is very light brown and seems to leave a 2" blob on the cardboard i lay under my car.
I sprayed down the alternator with brake cleaner, hopefully i can save it. Im not sure if it was just the casing that was covered or if it seeped inside too. i braked cleaned everything in that area and engine degreased as well, followed by compressed air to dry it..
Also i never checked the power steering oil, i read it uses ATF dexron III? So im assuming the oil leak from steering should be red or pinkish colour??
I will check when i have a chance and try to remove my timing belt cover and hope theres no oil in there.
I am at 192k miles and I have the cam seal leak for sure in addition to the valve cover gasket leak. I recently took it in to my indie and they were going to do just the valve cover gaskets but then they saw a pretty good leak from my cam seal area and put everything on hold for me to decide. Unfortunately for me, I didn't opt to do them when I had the timing belt changed at 180k and it wasn't leaking at that time, just slightly wet. I should've just done them then. Anyway, to do them now would also include the VVTi cam gears because it's a whole 2-3 day engine tear down and they said they have seen them fail around 200-250k miles, so best to do now to avoid paying a 3rd time for the works. The total bill for everything is 2k.
I seriously thought about giving up and just ditching ICE cars altogether, which is definitely my next move, but want to wait until the Model S is refreshed for real in a year or two....I need its air suspension lol. I'm too pampered with my UL!
I think if anyone is on the fence about ditching their LS definitely do it right before the 180k mile service hits. I may be an LS lifer at this point lol.
At the age of your car it will be black, no red will remain. Mine was literally like a Diesel engines oil in color, took 6 flushes to get it red again, use dex/merc for the closest parts store since that's all it needs.
May not be the same issue as yours but it's worth mentioning...
I have a small amount of oil in the exact same place. My initial fear was cam seal but I removed the timing cover and it's bone dry underneath. Turns out my PS hose, between the reservoir and pump, is brittle and cracking where it connects to the union tube. The leaking fluid has been scattered by the air generated from the spinning serp belt and nearby PS pulley. I have the hose and OE clamps, as well as the little O ring for the union, but I haven't replaced them yet. I'm not losing sleep over it now that I know exactly what's happening...
Your PS union looks dry but you might want to take a second look...? The timing cover isn't difficult to remove. Pull it off and report back
*Side note for anyone else reading this- the OE hose is only available from Lexus for about $45. It's an odd size 15mm ID so bulk 5/8" ID hose from a parts store is too big to fit properly.
The small amount of flex from engine movement is not healthy on your 15 to 20 yr old brittle hose.
Rockauto sells it for $10.78- https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...432014&jsn=361
You've mentioned this before, and I did not think it was my case, but come to think of it, one of my rubber hoses is damp there where it clamps to the reservior. Now that you mention the air scattering the fluid....hmmmm......and I did buy the Mobil 1 ATF and never opened it because the reservoir is still full....
You've mentioned this before, and I did not think it was my case, but come to think of it, one of my rubber hoses is damp there where it clamps to the reservior. Now that you mention the air scattering the fluid....hmmmm......and I did buy the Mobil 1 ATF and never opened it because the reservoir is still full....
The reservoir is mounted stationary on the fender well coupled with original (most of us) motor mounts that are also tired and stiff. The slight movement from the lower end of the hose will inevitably compromise it usually close to the clamp. I replaced the hose leading TO the reservoir a while back for this same reason. I'm planning to do it soon, time permitting, and I'll do a simple tutorial with pics when I do.
Proper install of the valve cover gasket is crucial. You mentioned you were concerned that you might have pinched the seal while installing and you then went ahead and reinstalled it. This is quite common on installing the valve cover after replacing the gasket. It's very important to have some kind of adhesive on the valve cover gasket to hold it onto the valve cover before reinstalling it as NOT to pinch it. Also, the cover bolts should never be over tightened but only to the torque specs or the gasket will be crushed. If done properly, and still leaking, you'll need to look elsewhere although I also believe that cam seals are not very common especially at your mileage.
The reservoir is mounted stationary on the fender well coupled with original (most of us) motor mounts that are also tired and stiff. The slight movement from the lower end of the hose will inevitably compromise it usually close to the clamp. I replaced the hose leading TO the reservoir a while back for this same reason. I'm planning to do it soon, time permitting, and I'll do a simple tutorial with pics when I do.
Here's a pic but from the top--I am not sure I looked at the bottom! I think this is why I didn't think it was my case. I don't see the top being able to whip all over the engine. But you can clearly see my top has grime so the implication is the bottom could too. Well, I'll check the next time I have all the covers out.
Yep, that's it. Here is a photo of mine after they replaced the hose you'll notice how dry the area is now. If you follow the hose down you may notice light moisture on it.
Yep, that's it. Here is a photo of mine after they replaced the hose you'll notice how dry the area is now. If you follow the hose down you may notice light moisture on it.
Yes! You can see that on the plastic. Also, your clamp is placed lower than mine.
I noticed with my wife's GM lower rad hose, when I put the clamp (same type/kind) in the exact same spot, where there was an indentation (I undid the clamp and hose, I did not replace the hose, it was to drain), it actually leaked afterwards. When I repositioned the clamp to press on part of the hose and further back where it was not indented, no more leaking. I think some people are right that the clamp should in reality be replaced, once opened....(it's open the entire time work is being done, so maybe some tension is lost)
02-21-20, 06:35 AM
Need help! Oil leaking passenger side ..cam seals??
