I DIYed the infamous cam tower leak...

I decided to tackle the cam tower reseal myself on my 2011 toyota tundra with the 5.7

Mine was leaking a quart about every 300 miles with 171k on the odometer which is excessive in my opinion.

I was going to make a DIY video on this repair; however, I only recorded the removal and not the installation. This is because by the time I got in there, for one, I realized how ridiculously long this video would need to be. Second, it was very difficult to show everything I was doing. Third, I did not feel like a figure of authority on this repair since I had never done it before. And finally, I realized... This repair really shouldn't be presented as one for just any DIYer. There are a lot of very meniscal mistakes that could result in blowing up your engine.

I did it in the truck without pulling the cab or the engine. I will say it was quite the bear of a job. Now, I am a full time mechanic and I do have a lift at my house, so I do have those things going for me. But I had never done this repair before and did not know what to expect. Overall I'd say anybody who is proficient at working on cars could do the job, but it may be worth it for most DIYers to just pay the dealer. The job took me a total of about 20 working hours to complete. The most difficult part was finding all the seals from Toyota...

Tips that I have for anybody looking to do this job OR doing valve covers or chains. Avoid as much as possible prying up the valve covers unevenly. They are located on pins and you can easily snap either the valve cover or cam carrier if you force them up from one corner. Another recommendation for the valve covers - GET THE OEM SEALS. I had a Fel-pro valve cover gasket set and the seals were COMPLETELY wrong aside from the valve cover gasket itself and the spark plug tube seals.
Here are the OEM part numbers for those seals:
11159-0S010 - you will need 2 of these
11159-0P010 - you will need 4 of these
90430-A0001 - you will need 4 of these

My other suggestion is before you remove the timing cover, ensure that you have ALL of the seals needed. You will need 1 or both of the O-rings for the water pipe behind the water pump depending on how it ends up coming apart. Then most importantly you will need the oil pump inlet and outlet seals. If you do not replace these you may grenade your engine. In addition, you will need the O-rings for the oil filter housing where it bolts up to the timing cover.
I do not have OEM part numbers to give for these as I got them in a Fel-pro conversion gasket set.

If you do re-seal your own cam towers I strongly suggest doing the complete chain set with guides and tensioners or at a minimum replace the tensioners as there will never be a better time to do so.

If anybody would like me to edit the footage of the removal and upload to Youtube I may do so.

Additionally, if anybody has any questions feel free to ask.

Here are the pictures I took along the way (the pictures uploaded in the opposite order, look from the bottom-up):

 

OK the pictures uploaded in a completely incorrect order. Sorry.

 

Nice job. 20 hours is damn good for a first time, I've heard Techs who do this on a regular basis taking between 11 to 13 hours to complete.

 

I do believe this might be a first on here. At the very least, I can say I've never stumbled across anyone else who has done this job, so hats off to you for that! If you get a youtube video up for it and it can function as a guide for people, that would be awesome. Possibly even worth a sticky in the 2nd and 2.5 Gen sections.

 

Bravo! Quite the undertaking.

 

Great job!!!
Beautiful clean engine inside.
Mobile1 oil?

 

Thank you, sir. I may get another shot one day if a customer comes in complaining of an oil leak on one of these lol. Maybe then I can try to get a better time

 

Oh boy I did not know that! Maybe I should have done a better job documenting it. I will see what I can scrape together from the footage I have.

 

To be honest I was hoping it would be a little bit cleaner but I can't complain. I do not know what oil had been used prior to my ownership as I just bought the truck in April. But I will say that I did put Mobil1 in after this repair!

 

Hats off

That job is way, way, way above my pay grade, skill level and patience... Great work!!!

BTW, do you have any idea what a dealer is currently charging to complete that job? I'd imagine $2-$3k

 

Back in 2022 this guy was quoted over $4K. https://www.tundras.com/threads/cam-tower-leak.110003/#post-2839208

 

So, nobody's ever tried to just JB Weld it from the outside?

j/k, don't try that.

Kudos to OP, not an easy job from what I understand! Hope I get lucky and never have to deal with it.

 

Hey I mean if the cam carrier and the cylinder head were one piece in the first place this would have never been an issue... I think you may be on to something.

 

The thought of cleaning the crap out of the offending area and applying RTV has crossed my mind.

Unfortunately my truck has this. It isn't excessive but it is for sure doing it. I have been deep into engines before but I really, really do not want to tackle this job so I am dreading writing the check for it.

 

If I ever get the dreaded leak, I'm definitely trying this first. Clean and press into the gap. If it continues to leak, you're out like ten bucks.

 

Good job. Would you mind giving us a ballpark of what you spent to do the job yourself?

 

So with all the parts including water pump, belt, chains/guides/tensioners, belt tensioner, belt idler, all of the gaskets, FIPG & PS fluid, oil & coolant I spent around $800

 

Is this a cam tower leak? If so, would you consider this excessive?

I'm no mechanic and my mechanic skill level is on the intermediate level but I fear I have no choice but to tackle this myself. On a tight budget.

But the question to you is, do I really need to have this done? Meaning, will this ruin my 5.7 engine if I don't fix it?

 

To me that looks more like it originates from your timing cover. To check your cam towers remove the little access covers in your wheel wells (they're held on with like 4 plastic clips each) and look above the exhaust manifolds. Identify the plate below the valve cover and you will see RTV sealant where it mates with the head. That is where you will be able to tell if your cam towers are leaking. And to be honest with you my friend, if its not dripping on the ground and you don't smell it on your exhaust I don't think I'd bother fixing that at this time.

 

Please (anyone/everyone/Corey) - This is wayyyy beyond anything I could do. Dealership says cam tower is leaking - when I had it in for a brake job. I am very retired. I drive it 300-500 miles per month. It seems to ‘use’ about a half quart every 1-2 months. I am over-protective,perhaps, changing Valvoline FS 0-20 every 3-5 months. I do not see an obvious leak but there is some slight oil indication on the passenger side.
Given:
1) limited use (but might want to take it on a 1500-2000 mile road trip);
2) dealer wants ~$3700 to do the work
3) I have never had - in 60 years of driving (full license and ‘46 Chevy as first car) - that I like anywhere near as much
4) while I could leave the cash in my retirement fund for the grandson, $4,000 is something I can handle…
Is there any harm in doing nothing now but watching the oil stick over time to see if it makes sense?

thanks for everyones’ input. I do not know what I don’t know.

Swtrader in DFW

2011 TRD RWD 5.7 107,000 miles

 

Can you take any pics of the leak? I had cam tower leaks on both of my Tundras, but never lost any noticeable amount of oil between oil changes (usually every 6-12 months). I'm wondering if there's another leak somewhere, or if your truck just likes to burn oil (which I don't think is common on these trucks).

 

That's not too bad for a trip. You can monitor it and try 5w-30 oil instead of the 0w-20. I run a light 5w-40.

 

Buck. - thanks!
Best pics I could get with my iPad. I have a Depstect (sp) horoscope I used mostly for in-wall looking. That video did not look too revealing.

 

Jump to post #38 and 43 on this thread and it will give you a good idea where to check for cam tower leak.

 

Here’s a photo of where my leak started (80,000mi) driver side- directly behind AC compressor. 3way corner between timing cover/block/head …check out you tube “the car care nut” fixing every tundra problem.

 

Unless it was leaking on the exhaust header I wouldn't bother. I guess if I parked in a clean garage and didn't like seeing cardboard under the truck to catch the oil it might push me into fixing it as well. But I come from a time when engines leaked oil. My 77 Corolla had round seals around the valve cover (tubes that went around the spark plugs) that would fill up between oil changes. That kind of sucked because you couldn't get a lot of the oil out before removing the plugs. So oil always ended up in the cylinders and even after turning the engine over to blow it out it would smoke like crazy for a few miles. Machining of engines has advanced so much since then. Now people just expect perfect. Not saying that's bad but $4k is quite a bit of money. I would do the work myself so it's the 15 to 20 hour part that would bother me.