CAM SHAFT TOWER SEAL LEAKING ** PLEASE READ***

It’s an oil leak. What kind of failure do you expect to come from that?

I don’t understand posting in this thread if you don’t have a cam tower leak to add how the posters that have/do should feel or act about it.

 

It's one thing if your vehicle starts leaking oil at 150,000 miles. But, lets say you drive a lot. You rack up 60,000 miles in 2 or 3 years and are out of the powertrain warranty, and then at 65,000 miles, you start leaking oil. It shouldn't be leaking that early. If that happened to me (which it kind of did - although I lucked out and they gave me an extended warranty), I would be really pissed that I was going to have to spend the weekend tearing into my engine to fix it. Sure, I could leave it and let it leak - but, like I said, that doesn't sit well with me. I like my stuff to be working properly.

 

Just out of curiosity, how many miles did your Cummins engines have on them when they started leaking? (Not trying to be an argumentative dick - I really would like to know).

 

Several have said just go get if fixed under warranty. I live 45 minutes away from the closest dealer. They always make you do the stupid "oil dye" test, so it requires two trips down to the dealer for diagnosis, then repair. Then, another trip to go pick it up. That is 4.5 hours of my time wasted. It is a pretty big hassle.

 

Well I guess the answer is maybe?, certainly could have drove my 16 till it starved enough to damage the engine. But it was fairly obvious. While certainly at the extreme end of the cam tower leak spectrum, only know one other, but nonetheless a cam tower leak. Not referring to the member I quoted, still can’t wrap my head around coming into the cam tower leaking thread, stating mine doesn’t leak so it is not an issue, and only a very small(not verified either way) leak. It’s an inconvenience at the least dealing with the repair, having a thread for those that have to vent should be fine?

 

I need to look for this on my 2018 with 6500 miles.. but honestly.. I have tried to read and look at exactly the best angle to see this.. Your pic is great.. but what would help me it a picture from the same angle but not as close... so I can get some reference points you know..

 

Agreed. And if you don't even own a Tundra....or never have owned one. No real experience with the situation.

 

2018 with 6,890 miles joining the club.

One drop showing on the drivers side, passenger is dry for now.

I'll keep an eye on it and if/when both sides leak I'll see about getting it repaired before my powertrain warranty is out. If all it makes is one drop every 7k miles I would have a hard time rolling the dice on the repair.

Every manufacturer has defects but what is most troubling to me is Toyota knows they have an assembly/manufacturing/design defect and continues to push the trucks out of the door with no changes. If the black sealant is the "fix" why not use it in the first place? It doesn't say a lot for the brands reputation of building a quality product.

I didn't have a ton of great things to say about my new Toyota truck in the owners survey other than the power, braking, and comfy seats (which are great). The ride is terrible compared to my 1998 F150 Supercab 8' box I replaced it with. I think it's a symptom of the payload wars between manufacturers. To get a light duty DCLB the only choices were Ford and Toyota. Even with the leak I guess it was the best choice long term.

Oh I guess I have the rattling ECU under the dash also based on another thread and my symptoms. I'll definitely be bringing the truck in for that sooner rather than later.

 

Lol, at least you didnt end up with a 53 block.

 

That's me!

 

Do these help?

 

Welcome to the club. After what I went through following the repair I agree with your decision to just keep an eye on it throughout your powertrain warranty. Good luck!

 

yes.. thank you.

 

I probably should have said this is the passenger side...

 

I guess I'm joining this club now. I've been keeping an eye on mine every few weeks and yesterday noticed my drivers side has some oily residue built up where the metal piece sticks out a bit with the hole that goes thru it. 2017 Crew Max at 35,926 miles as of this morning. I'll try to attach a pic - I took a couple last night, but they didn't come out to good due to it getting dark outside and the lines blocking the view. Anyone have this fix done in the Phoenix area?...I've been using Camelback Toyota since I purchased the truck there, but with a job this big I'd like to know if others had a good experience and know where they went. Also, anyone disagree and believe this doesn't appear to be leaking?

 

Can't tell from that picture.

 

It's hard to tell from that picture, but my guess is they'll call that a "seep" and won't want to fix it yet. If you get down on the ground right behind your driver side wheel and look up at the cam tower from there, you can get a better look at that spot and see if it's actually leaking.

 

Thanks. I'll take a look at it from that angle and see what I can find.

 

Good luck.... if you don’t already have an extended warranty maybe now would be a good time to consider one.

 

I've got the extended warranty until 100K and also did the pre-paid maintenance to 75K, so I'm good on that end.

 

That’s good. If you can post better pics of the leak so we could give you our opinions that might help you make your decision. If mine was just “seeping” I wouldn’t have them tear my engine apart for that. Mine however has big drops of oil hanging off of parts of the engine though. 16 CM w/ 545xx miles on it. I’m glad I too have the extended warranty but mine is still covered under the Powertrain factory Warranty. I have an appointment today at 11 am here at a dealership. I’ll update when I find something out.

 

Good luck at the dealership, keep us posted.

 

Just as an FYI, 2018 5.7 here with 24,000 miles and zero cam tower leak on either side, perfectly clean.

Dan

 

Glad to hear it... My pops has a 2018 that is dry as well after 14K... Don't assume you're in the clear, keep an eye on it. I plan on getting mine done after winter, but I cringe the thought of cracking open a factory engine. It's a leak not a knock lol.

 

In my case it would have to be an unbearable leak for me to consider a disassembly to fix it. And even then, if I had to do it, I would do it myself (I do not trust any dealer with this level of engine work).

I wonder if a super cleaning of the area and a solid coat of JB Weld (or something similar) would externally seal this leak?

Dan

 

Did you report it stolen with the cops? Tell them to follow the oil drips and track it's location.