Cam tower leak or dealership spilled oil on the engine?

Hey everyone!

Well I was very surprised when I checked through the wheel well and noticed burnt oil where the cam tower typically leaks on my 2021 Tundra with 23,000 miles. I hadn't checked in about 6 moths and before this the engine was pristine clean on both sides.

I cleaned off the black soot where the cam tower is joined together which may have been a mistake but wanted to see if it returned or if it was something that got spilled.

Then upon closer inspection it appears about a quart of oil got spilled on the engine on one of the last oil changes at the dealership.

I tried to take some pics with a flash light and you can see where it spilled down the engine along the side, and ran along the channel on the top and ran down the back, and on the front, and all ran down along the bottom. You can see where it dripped off on the back plastic part just below the cam towers.

What do you think? This was a spill at the dealership of an oil leak somewhere? Can oil migrate up? Clearly it seems to have been spilled or a leak near the top. There is oil in every little nook where it would have been spilled while oil being poured.

What would you do? I can clean it myself and see it comes back or take it to the dealership and ask them if it's an oil leak or they spilled oil on the engine when they changed the oil? It's still under warranty.

I'm deff going to go back to changing oil myself. Paid $140 for an oil change and right now it looks like someone spilled oil all down the engine. I'm thinking of having them clean it and give me free oil change but not sure. Feel like just cleaning it myself and start doing oil changes myself.

 

I’d just take it to a car wash and hose it off and see if any leaks come back. You could go complain to the dealer, but they really won’t care and if they offer to wash it then it’ll be done by the intern who doesn’t care. They might offer a free oil change if you push it.

 

Good advice. I agree they won't care and think I did it. I already mixed up some degreaser that I use to degrease my bike chain. I'm glad it looks like careless oil change. Maybe was closer to a 1/4 of quart? Not sure. Enough to run down all sides which may not take that much.

It's also super hot where I live and every car tech has left it running to chill in the AC. I can tell because of how much the MPG dropped.

Doing my own maintenance can be very therapeutic. So often a little maintenance can save an appliance or in this case, I wonder if I had taken it in and said it was a cam tower leak they would have done the big cam tower sealant job? It looked just like cam tower leak from the wheel well.

 

I think they’d clean it up and see if it returns before doing a tear down for a cam tower repair. And you wouldn’t want them to do it unless it was needed cause it’s a big job. Search for the mega thread on the cam tower. There are lots of pics in there to compare to yours. I had a seep on one side for over a year before I traded mine in. I think I wouldn’t want them to fix it unless I was getting puddles under the truck.

Since the repair is a major job, I’d want to be sure it was the cam tower leak before I asked for it to be fixed. Unless you are close on warranty expiring. I don’t remember if it was covered.

 

I did research all the threads on cam tower leaks. I agree that it's big job, but apparently is covered under the drive train warranty.

This is the pic the OP shared from the cam tower mega thread. Mine looked just like this. But look at it close, and you can see how the oil migrates. My engine looked brand new so I could follow exactly how the oil got spilled during oil change. It looks exactly like this on the bottom. That's why I said it looks exactly like a cam tower leak. Some leaks are much worse though and you can see drops of oil.

The oil follows the channel on the top, with a few deep puddles, then down along the back edge where the cam towers join, then migrates sideways along the edge on the bottom and looks like burnt oil.

I cleaned mine with degreaser and all looks new again. I'm confident it was overfilling. These 5.7 take over 8 quarts they probably put in a big dispenser and pour as fast as they can and it likely overflowed.

I wish I had taken a pic through the wheel well before I cleaned it but it looked just like this one the mega thread. I'll update in 6 months or a year from now but think dealership poured ail on it, that ran down the side and back, then migrated all along the bottom cam tower lip where it joins together and turned black just like this one.

 

This is one of the spots I didn't clean though the wheel well and got a pic. It was hard to focus. The entire bottom all looked like black burnt oil like it came out of the cam tower seal. You can see to the right where I wiped the burnt oil off the eye with the hole in it. That one was black and the one it the back was black, and the entire lip.