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

Agree, and is Toyota covering these issue? yep.

 

Well, I guess I'm convinced. This isn't as bad as a transmission failing or cooling system taking a dump, plus Toyota is covering it (one side at a time), so we don't need to talk about it anymore, folks.

 

I have a feeling many more are leaking and people do not realize it since they do not know where to look. My 2018 with 5k miles is leaking at the very back on the passenger side. You really have to look for it. If you just look into the wheel well it looks dry as a bone. Stick your head in there and follow it as far as you can see.

 

The ones complaining about a little inconsequential oil leak are probably the same people complaining that their Tundra doesn't get 30 mpg.

 

I "confirmed" it by reading posts of people saying that their truck was leaking. I assumed that when they posted up with "my truck has the cam tower leak", that they weren't bullshitting me. Did I go out and personally look at said trucks of all of those who posted? No. Although, I did visually confirm the leak on my truck, and visually confirmed 2 out of the 3 Tundras that were on the for sale lot here in town a couple of weeks ago.

It is kind of like me "confirming" that you are actually out there in the real world typing shit into a computer by reading stuff that is posted under your name. Have I actually went out and "confirmed" with my own eyes that you actually exist? No. I haven't. I just made the assumption since I read something that you typed.

Who says anything about the sky falling? People are just complaining that their relatively new trucks are leaking oil. Will it blow up the engine? No. Will it drip on to your manifold heat shield and smell like ass? Maybe. Will it drip onto your manifold and start a fire? Probably not. But, it still isn't the intended design - it is a failure of the design. It isn't working properly, plain and simple.

Just like if you were to complain about your truck making a howling sound inside of the cab at highway speeds because they didn't seal the windshield properly. Is it a catastrophic failure? No. Is it annoying? Yes. Should it happen on a brand new vehicle? No.

I do agree with this. For the most part, it seems that Toyota does step up and take care of the problem when it surfaces (although sometimes it happens more than once). It would just be nice if they would fix the inherent problem with the design itself.

 

A little, inconsequential oil leak on a brand new $34K - $60K truck is complete BS. I will complain about that all day long. Using a FIPG in this scenario is stupid. Design a real seal and be done with it. That is the part that I don't understand. It would be a minor change to fix this problem.

 

Everything except for what you observe with your own 2 eyes is anecdotal evidence. You could say reading a historical or document detailing other peoples' experiences is anecdotal; there is a huge difference in credibility between a well-documented and reviewed legal challenge or OEM recall notice and an online petition on change.org (which anyone can start with hardly any reason or justification).

There is zero proof that this problem is widespread, and an online petition (which anyone can sign) or some BS anecdotal conversation with dealership personnel does nothing to further the argument. Toyota is stepping up to fix those few trucks with confirmed problems.

If the issue truly turns out to be fairly common, I fully expect Toyota to issue a recalls or TSB to deal with the issue. But that's a big 'if' and I see no indication so far that the issue is common.

 

Sweet! Everything that I don't see with my own eyes is anecdotal BS. That includes you.

 

Dude, except for the 3 trucks you observed (your own + the 2 on the dealer lot that supposedly had a leak) every piece of evidence you're using to validate your view is based on 'what someone else said'.....that's the very definition of anecdotal evidence. Why are you getting so butt hurt over that?

If someone or some organization definitively proves that the oil leak is a common issue among 5.7l v8 Tundra's, I'll believe it, and I'm sure Toyota will take ownership of those faults. But 1.9k signatures (none of whom have been verified as having problems) and a few people ranting about dealership gossip does jack-squat to prove anything....and yet a whole bunch of people use that crap to claim the oil leak is widespread. This is the epitome of internet hysteria....people hear about other peoples' complaints and the problem snowballs into something bigger than it really is.

 

No butt-hurt here. Why do you give a rat's behind if people are complaining about their Tundras? If yours is running great - good! Then you got a good one! But really, why do you care if people are posting up threads asking about oil leaking out of their truck? Do you own Toyota stock or something? You think it is going to hurt the resale value of your truck? And I don't think that anybody said it was "wide spread". Someone typed that it might becoming more wide spread. Then you jump in and say that it isn't because some giant conglomeration hasn't performed an in-depth scientific study, and all of the "uncomfirmed" cases that people post are just nonsensical crap.

Just let it be what it is. You getting on and ranting about how the problem is insignificant isn't going to do a damn thing for the people that actually have the Cam Tower leak. Whereas those that have had it might be able to offer some insight and suggestions on what they can do about it, and maybe even some suggestions on how to get Toyota to give a little more than just a repair.

 

2018 here, picked up in January of this year, 21k+ miles, no leaks.

Dan

 

What else does Toyota need to provide besides a repair?

 

Nothing. But after a few discussions with them, they did give me a free 100,000 mile warranty since my brand new truck was leaking oil.

So, Toyota did right for me in this case by "fixing" the problem, and giving me some extra compensation for having to hassle with taking my truck in for an unplanned repair.

But, just because they did this for me doesn't mean I am going to not tell people about the problems I have had with my truck when they ask how reliable my Toyota has been.

 

Just sold my '07 RCSB 5.7L last week. It had 235k on the ODO and never leaked at the the cam tower seal.

 

I have a 2018 Limited with 4,000 miles and my passenger side is weeping.

 

my co-worker has a 2012 sr5 5.7 and sure enough his passenger side is covered in oil towards the rear and he never even knew about it.

 

I read somewhere where theirs was 1/2 qt down over an oil change period. (I have a 5.7 Hemi Ram that does damn near a quart between changes and never looked for a leak - company truck).
What’s the max oil loss on the folks that notice this leak?
Do folks have oil stained driveways?
I don’t agree that a new truck should leak oil - ever.
Just wondering to what extent this leak is.
Is it like a normal running Big 3 engine? LOL

 

No leaks. 2016. 34k

 

It depends. It seems like the severity varies. I never tracked mine long enough to see how much it was leaking. I just know it was hitting the exhaust shield and burning - I could smell it and see smoke from the wheel well area occasionally. Some it seems only barely weep, and I have seen accounts of others who said that theirs was leaking fairly substantially.

Of course, this is all just anecdotal bullshit.

 

Hitting exhaust and smoking isn’t cool.

Just wondering what I’m looking at if my junk clicks over 60K and then decides to leak lol.

 

@UpSteer32 do you work for Toyota corporate ?

 

Man............ whole lotta words and posturing here......... how about a pic of the issue and area illustrating the problem and statistics? My TRD PRO is infallible.... like you know all Toyota products..... bahahaha

 

Plenty of pics in thus thread and the other can tower leak thread on this and many other sites.

 

2014 with 101k and both sides are leaking. Driver is worse than pass. Pass is kind of weeping. Can’t get this iPad up in there to get good pic of driver side.

 

yes and pretty much all of the pics are in the same location so no need to post anymore.

 

I just don’t understand why they couldn’t make the cam tower seal/gasket just like the valve cover. Put a grove with a gasket and call it good. Makes no sense.

 

Totally Agree. I just finished the timing chains, tensioners and guides on my 2000 f150 5.4l and all mating surfaces are grooved with rubber gaskets. I only had to dab black rtv at a few spots where covers and heads/block meet to prevent a leak. This has been a design feature on those modular engines since the mid 90s and Toyota's 4.7 has no seperate cam tower, it is one piece. The leak at the cam tower reminds me of my aircooled vw and the case halves that always leak, even after a rebuild. There is a company in california that will machine a groove in the case so you can add a rubber oring seal and stop the vw case leak for good. I wonder if someone sent them a set of cam towers if they could machine the same groove and include the oring material... hmmmmm!

 

Forgive my ignorance, first I've heard of this...... Isn't the cam tower INSIDE the valve cover? Are we talking valve cover gasket? Head Gasket? Or does this motor have a 3rd area to seal? Someone help me out here. Looking at the #'s seems inconsequential, but something to watch for. Still, IMO some people are pretty sensitive about this.

 

3 mating surfaces (valve cover to cam tower to head). Here is a video of a cam seal repair on youtube. I like this mechanics approach, disturbs least amount of components to get the job done.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MiO9ARX9Lts#menu

 

HOLY FUCK!!!