*PLEASE VOTE HERE* Who DOES/DOES NOT have a leaking cam tower seal?

155k on a 11 year old truck, the only leak I have is a leaking oil pan.

 

I acquired that attitude while driving F-150s for several years. They are always getting worked on.

 

Hopefully we can get a few more people voting. So far we have 17.6% of voters saying they've had the leak, which seems pretty high. I know people probably aren't coming to look at this if they don't have it, but it'd be nice to get a larger sample size.

 

looks like more gen 3s than gen2s have it which is a bit odd.

 

Had an 07 with 130k. No problems

 

Can you spread this out over the other 2nd gen threads and maybe the engine thread?

It is in a 3rd gen discussion. I'd like to see some more votes.

 

Maybe a mod can move it to the General Discussion section?

 

2015 1794 with just little over 45,000 miles. I checked today and still no cam tower/valve cover leaks. It has light grey gasket bead too.

 

Is this leak for 4.6 or 5.7 or both ? No leak on my 4.6!

 

It can happen on both engines but it seems like the occurrence rate on the 4.6 is much lower.

 

2014 1794 with 98k and no leaks.

 

48k and no leak. I’ve taken two 2000 mile trips to Florida in the summer. First one at about 15k. It makes me wonder if the long duration of engine heat helps to “seat” the gasket. Is that a possible likely hypothesis?

 

My new 2018 is fine. However the 2013 FFV 5.7 CM that my 2018 replaced was leaking at 80k. I'm selling another 2013 FFV 5.7 DC and it appears to be leaking too, at 75k. So both 2013 FFV's are/were leaking. This would give one a good reason to buy the platinum warranty for $1500. The buyer of my 2013 was given an estimate of $2,300 to replace the leaking seals.

 

2017 5.7 Non-FFV. 17,500 miles including two 2,000+ mile road trips and 6,500 miles of towing. No leaks (yet).

 

2018 FFV. Just checked today at 4k miles, passenger side leaking.

 

2018 non FFV, 9,600 miles and no leaks.

 

I am a new owner. Just picked up a 2019 CrewMax 4x4 SR5 FFV on Monday. I currently have 140 miles. Reading this thread makes me a bit nervous. I checked and nothing yet, but I will keep an eye out.

 

WELCOME

 

No leak
2014 4.6
120,000

 

How widespread is "widespread?'

Not even 2k signatures yet on the online petition....is anyone even checking to make sure that all signatories actually have confirmed leak issues? Some people just like to complain and whine about problems that they hear 2nd-hand through the grapevine.

 

'14 CM FFV 5.7, Posted earlier, bought used with 26,000, now at 63,000 nothing to report

 

No leaks 30k. 2015 SR5 TRD DC tow heavy

 

I have an 18 Sequoia, 17 Tundra, and there are 3 more Tundra's on my street. This past weekend I went and looked at theirs. The oldest is a 2012.

None of them are leaking, none even them are even weeping. That is 5 rigs. by the poll numbers, 1 of them should be leaking.

This "poll" is flawed at best. if you did a legitimate "out in the wild" poll, you'd find a fraction of a percent impacted. Even if mine was weeping, it's not the end of the world. I've had worse leaks from much more expensive rigs and I honestly only get bothered if things start leaving their marks or if I can smell it. If this is the biggest recurring issue these trucks have, it's still WAY better than the other BS the big three put people through.

people are LOOKING for a problem and this is where they come (Forums), you'll get a saturation of negative responses here compared to the real world.

 

Hey, there is part of the "cam tower leak doesn't exist" crew - you guys have been quiet for a while. We missed you.

"My truck is fine, so ALL trucks must be fine".

I pose that there are more of these out there then you think. No data whatsoever to back it up, and I know that you will scoff at that, but I keep hearing of more instances on this site and others. One member on this site had the leak on both of his Tundras, and a rear main weep to boot on his new one. Two weeks ago, I noticed that there were 3 Tundras on the local for sale by owner lot and I went and looked at them. A 2008, 2011, and a 2017. Two of the three had the leak - no mention of the leak in either of the for sale ads. I think that a lot people don't really give a shit about their vehicles as long as they get them from point A to B. They take it in to get it serviced, and the oil seepage that occurs probably never gets noticed by the techs that are in charge of oil changes.

I counted over 50 instances of the leak in the other thread. Also, there were two members that chimed in that work/worked at a Toyota dealership (one a master tech), that indicate that the problem is "almost common". Another member said that he makes it a point to check as many Tundras as he can when he sees them and estimates that almost half that he has checked have the leak. I think I am going to start doing the same - just to be an ass.

You say some people whine and complain about problems..... Well, some people like to whine and complain about people talking about problems with their vehicles. Damn fear-mongers. That crap has to stop!

 

No Leak - 2nd gen '07 Non-FFV with 281k.

 

You're right that people come to forums like these to complain about stuff like this. Also, nobody is claiming this is a scientific poll that is indicative of a real-life distribution of cases, it was just to gauge the issue. That said, your anecdotal check of five trucks in the wild with none having leaks is also "flawed at best".

We keep hearing the "this is better than the issues with the Big 3" argument, which by your own logic is also probably amplified by people complaining online and by the fact that there are nearly 20x as many Big 3 trucks sold each year compared to Tundras. It's also subjective as to if it's "better" to have your engine broken into vs dealing with a shaking/vibrating drivetrain that can also be fixed. But, even if our issue is "better" than their issues, it's still a big issue and shouldn't just be discounted because it's "not that big of a deal".

 

Well see, the problem is the math isn't backing up what you and your 'dealership' friends are claiming: 50 confirmed instances out of hundreds of thousands sold over the last decade (though I'm not sure how you actually "confirmed" the leaks)....that's not even a drop in the bucket.

Toyota has had problems: Frame rust issues, early 5.7l's had faults from the factory to name a few.

The difference between Toyota and most other OEM's is that Toyota will almost always make good on an issue, if it is confirmed to be widespread. Moreover, while I appreciate that a brand new truck shouldn't be leaking oil, all indications are that this "problem" isn't a catastrophic one (meaning the truck will still run).

If anyone here thinks there better off jumping the Toyota ship and going to another OEM, well have at it. Ford handed out 2 different unreliable diesel engines for their 3/4 tons and never gave their customers a real fix. Ram has historically had issues with their transmissions; again, it was left up to the customer to figure out how to fix it. GM has a lot of historical issues with engine cooling and electrical gremlins.

No OEM is perfect, and to be fair to the domestics, their quality has improved as of late. But the domestics still have enough problems, and I still hear all kinds of horror stories about how dealerships refuse to cover factory faults under the warranty. I have no qualms about owning and running a 10 year old 5.7l Tundra; I can't say the same for a 10 year old domestic 1/2 ton.

 

Here we are again with the "other manufacturers have it worse, so go ahead and buy one of those" argument. It's like when I was a kid and my dad would be yelling at me for something and I tried to say my sister was doing something worse to take the focus away from me. Yes, we know the Big 3 have many issues. We aren't talking about the Big 3 here, though. Just because there's a bigger problem somewhere else doesn't mean the problem here isn't worth talking about.

 

Well let's be a little more nuanced then about how we classify these different "problems."

Is it a problem if a new 5.7l iForce v8 is leaking oil? Yes.

Does that "problem" have the same severity as a transmission destroying itself or the cooling system taking a dump? No.

I'm not denying that Toyota 4x4's have the potential problems. I will contend that they are less likely to have problems and those problems that do occur are usually less severe.

Out of hundreds of thousands of 5.7l V8 Tundra's sold, how many actually have oil leak problems? And out of those with the leaks, how many have had catastrophic engine failures?

I think some people here need to develop a little bit of context before they decide to cry about how the sky is falling.