Oil Leak

Alright folks - gonna be a long one. I already searched the forums and couldn’t find a match for my issue.

I have 191k on my 2016 tundra. It has never given me any problems. I just changed the oil for the umpteenth time a few days ago. Went outside 30 minutes ago and have a small oil stain under the truck on the driveway. Oil cooler and filter housing have oil on them, but so does the driver side of the timing cover.
I can’t tell that the timing cover is leaking for sure so my question is: Could it be leaking from the filter housing and getting thrown onto the timing cover?

Only changes to truck: metal filter housing swap, but I kept the oem plastic housing as it wasn’t broken or cracked.
Replacing OEM housing will be step one, but I don’t see how oil could get from the filter housing to any rotating parts to sling oil up the side of the timing cover.

pics were taken through the driver side wheel well. Not the best, but it’s dark here.

 

Your first task is to clean up the oil and surrounding parts with a can of brake clean or whatever you want to use. Hit it with some air afterwords to dry it. Then fire it up and look for fresh oil. Don’t guess where the leak is. Isolate it and identify it.

 

Following. I recently found an oil leak in the same exact spot on my 2015 with only 70k on it.

 

I had to go out of town on business. It’ll be a few days before I get to do anything with this, but I’ll update my findings.

 

I need to check my 2016 which also is now at abt 192k kms, wondering is this the psgr side or driver side. ?

 

The OP's writeup states drivers side wheel well for the photos... which is also the side of the oil cooler and filter housing...

 

I found a coolant drain!

 

I take your satire to mean that you are saying my oil cooler is leaking. Did I get that right?

 

Well I finally got under the truck yesterday. Aluminum filter housing was leaking so I swapped that back out with the oem one. I let the truck idle for 20 minutes. No more leaks, until I drove it to work today. Came out after work to an oil stain and a fresh oil droplet hanging on the skid plate.

Now I have to figure out how to stop the leak in the second picture.

 

Looks like that bolt (circled in red) was removed before. What happened to make that have to be removed?

 

That’s not a bolt. It’s the mating surface between the oil cooler and the engine side of the oil filter housing. There is a stud that goes through there and the nut is tight. Bought the truck used so I have no idea if it was removed before I got it.

My concern is that the leak is higher on the engine somewhere that I am not seeing and it is running down to that point to drip.

 

This is one of the rare moments when I'm being serious. I had heard there were block drains but hadn't seen one till now.

 

Thank you

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5JXsgXhYZPE

After watching this video, I think I know what my Monday will be.

 

That Vid made me dizzy.

 

Decided today was the day to chase the leak and I was really hoping it was the front crankshaft seal. Got the fan and shroud off, took the belt off. Front crankshaft seal was not leaking, but the water pump was! Dammit! Replaced the water pump started adding coolant and found a pinhole leak in the radiator. Dammit again! Truck has new water pump, new belt, new thermostat, and new radiator.
Cleaned the oil off of everything and still could not find the leak. In the photo below the most oil covered part was between bolts 6 and 11 on the timing cover. Checked torque and they were in spec. I literally have no idea where to go from here.

 

Now that you have it cleaned up good, it might take awhile for the leak to show itself again. I would just drive it and check it everyday till it reappears, then take it from there. Good luck.

 

Yessir. That’s the plan. I'll keep this thread updated if anything changes.

 

Did you determine the source?

Unless pooling under the vehicle actively, I'd advise cleaning every surface that you can see now that you've replaced one known leak and seeing what happens.

Especially under highway speeds, leaking oil can migrate up or toward the rear of the vehicle from the leak point, and continue dripping out of crevices and things for days after you have stopped it. It could keep "leaking" for days but really is oil migrating back down with gravity after being blown up into those spots.

 

Sorry for the delayed response. The only leak I ever found was from the metal filter housing. The leak (active drip) continued for a few days after and that is when the water pump debacle began. While I had everything off of the front of the engine I cleaned off all oil residue.
I have since put about 500 miles on the truck and have not lost a drop of oil.
That’s a really long way of saying that I agree with your comment about the appearance of an active leak days after the issue was resolved.

 

Looking for an update. Has any more oil leaked from anywhere?

 

I have the same problem now, was hoping it was the filter housing, installed two new O-Rings for the filter housing assembly. Same results

Message from a Toyota technician :
Damn i was hoping that wasnt leaking but was hard to tell since the valve covers were leaking too. Thats the timing cover. Motor has to be removed to reseal the timing cover, upper pan and lower pan.

Removing a motor to fix an oil leak, dammit!

 

Any more oil leaks?

 

no more leaks. Changing back to the factory plastic filter housing fixed it.

 

I'm curious - was the aluminum one a Toyota housing or aftermarket?

 

Uh, im not sure why your Toyota mechanic said you have to pull the motor for the timing cover leak. I just had my done under warranty and it only took 1.5 days. There is absolutely no reason to pull the motor for the timing cover leak repair. You need to find a different Toyota Mechanic or at least someone that had done this type of repair many times. Try a different dealership. Ask them if they have done this type of repairs, how often. My service advisor told me when i bought it in for the diag, they had just finished up the same repair on the 4runner. I’m assuming this is also common issue on the 4runners.

 

You don’t pull the motor on a 3UR-FE to reseal the timing cover. It’s done in the truck.