Oil Leaking??

[Porsche]

One more data point:

2013 Subaru BRZ, manual transmission model, assembled in spring 2012, delivered June 2012.

At approximately 3500 miles: No sign of leaking, 12 mm bolts tight at 144 in-lb (12 ft-lb) on the metal plate described in posts above.

[pjb86]

Just checked mine, 14000 km, dry as a bone.

[Chimpo]

Tightened mine and wiped clean. Checked two weeks later: slight residue. Time to pull off and goop the crap out of it.

[SloS13]

I have a feeling the leaking is a leak between the two halves of the circle.

[avusblue]

One more in this club. On my FR-S (production # 2414, delivered May 2012), I’d been noticing a small “burning oil” smell when the car was at a standstill when the engine is hot. (Like, when exiting the freeway and then idling at a stoplight). At first I thought the dealership spilled a little oil the last time I had my oil changed. But it didn’t go away. Never had a drop on the garage floor, and the oil level never diminished, so I just lived with it. The time for my next oil change approached, so I thoroughly checked the engine compartment with a flashlight when the engine and exhaust were at full operating temp -- and lo & behold, I noted a spot on the exhaust manifold for the right side rear cylinder where it looked like oil had been dripping on it. And even a wisp of smoke.

I dropped the car at the Toyota dealership this morning for its oil change, and asked them to look at it. I hadn’t yet searched for or seen this forum thread. An hour or so they called me with this verdict:

“The cam seal on the right cylinder bank is leaking. To replace that gasket, the engine has to come out. We’ll order the parts and schedule another visit for the job. It will take three to four days, so we'll provide a loaner car for you to drive.”

I didn't like that answer. So I conducted a little bit of internet sleuthing (consisting basically of searching on this forum under the keyword “leaking”), and in ten minutes I was convinced that odds were very, very strong that the specific cylinder head blanking plate mentioned in this thread was the issue, versus leaking cam seals. I work right next door to the dealership, so I walked over there and brought the service writer a printout of key postings from this forum thread. I asked him to have the technician look it over and call me directly if he had any questions.

The technician removed the plate, cleaned it up, reinstalled, and torqued the bolts. I’ll give it a couple weeks to see if I encounter the smell again, but here’s hoping that it’s all good.

Toyota should send me some kind of reward, right? My 10 minutes of internet sleuthing saved the company from incurring a major, super expensive, engine remove-and-reinstall warranty claim -- which wouldn’t have even fixed the problem. This job instead took less than an hour of labor plus a tube of special Toyota sealant.

Cheers to the FT86 forum for chalking up another win!

[OrbitalEllipses]

Nice WRX wheels!

[mact]

Originally Posted by SloS13

I have a feeling the leaking is a leak between the two halves of the circle.

An important note for those doing this repair themselves and even techs at dealerships....

I had to take mine out a 2nd time to re-seal it. Liquid silicone requires the surface areas to be clean and free of oil for as long as the silicone cures. The problem with re-sealing is that shortly after you clean the area, it gets contaminated with oil again after about an hour. This happened to me because I did a series of cleaning/degreasing and waiting 3-4 times and every time after I clean the surface of oil, more oil would somehow return, which I believe lead to the failure of my first attempt. My solution was to put the rear of car on jack stands so that oil would have no chance of returning to the opening. I am hoping I have sealed it finally for good.

[ItsOnlyNoe]

Originally Posted by mact

An important note for those doing this repair themselves and even techs at dealerships....

I had to take mine out a 2nd time to re-seal it. Liquid silicone requires the surface areas to be clean and free of oil for as long as the silicone cures. The problem with re-sealing is that shortly after you clean the area, it gets contaminated with oil again after about an hour. This happened to me because I did a series of cleaning/degreasing and waiting 3-4 times and every time after I clean the surface of oil, more oil would somehow return, which I believe lead to the failure of my first attempt. My solution was to put the rear of car on jack stands so that oil would have no chance of returning to the opening. I am hoping I have sealed it finally for good.

Thanks for the advice. Ill share this with other Technicians I work with. Thanks to avusblue I got he chance to do this on a one the same day he came in for his. I recall doing it on a silver FRS with subaru wheels as well. What I did was clean off the surface first the excess with a blade Then used a 3M Scotch bright to clean the surface and plate of the remaining old silicone. Then used a chemical cleaner(brake clean) to clean off the residue left. Left a small bead on the block side and smeared some on the plate. As This was a first in our shop Im hoping that does in fact fix it and I couldnt find any information from toyota as of recent on the matter.

[ItsOnlyNoe]

Originally Posted by avusblue

I dropped the car at the Toyota dealership this morning for its oil change, and asked them to look at it. I hadn’t yet searched for or seen this forum thread. An hour or so they called me with this verdict:

“The cam seal on the right cylinder bank is leaking. To replace that gasket, the engine has to come out. We’ll order the parts and schedule another visit for the job. It will take three to four days, so we'll provide a loaner car for you to drive.”

My name is Noe Tech #5032 as you may find on your Repair Order. I apologize for the wait and also the misguided information relayed to you by our Service Advisor. I and multiple techs could see the leak from underneath the car while doing the oil change but as we know with the exahust manifold it was hard to determine the exactly location. With my mirror it appeared to be coming from between the valve cover and cam area. I suggested we reseal that cam area but with the intention that we didn't know the exact location and would be able to see it better while partially removed. Thank you ft86 Forum and Avusblue for sharing this information and me not looking like an idiot pulling out a new engine haha. I wish the Advisor would have relayed my original message and not changed my notes however. I did reseal it and hope for happy trails.

For anybody else that has had to deal with this and a dealer did not want to work with you, I suggest you are more persistent as I know there are dealers who would call this seepage minimal and in fact is but the moment you can get a smell in your car well that to me requires attention regardless of how minimal someone else might say. Maybe its because I work on others cars like they are my own that I care more then the average tech. Anyways I am fresh to this furom and come with a MR2 background, Ill try and give my best advice and knowledge to help fellow car guys. I can't speak for Toyota but Ill do my best to research and help others while im here. Thanks.

[SloS13]

Originally Posted by mact

An important note for those doing this repair themselves and even techs at dealerships....

I had to take mine out a 2nd time to re-seal it. Liquid silicone requires the surface areas to be clean and free of oil for as long as the silicone cures. The problem with re-sealing is that shortly after you clean the area, it gets contaminated with oil again after about an hour. This happened to me because I did a series of cleaning/degreasing and waiting 3-4 times and every time after I clean the surface of oil, more oil would somehow return, which I believe lead to the failure of my first attempt. My solution was to put the rear of car on jack stands so that oil would have no chance of returning to the opening. I am hoping I have sealed it finally for good.

Good idea. You deserve a cookie. I'll be doing my 3rd attempt this week. More oil smell than ever. UGHHHHH

[markitect]

Not to thread jack, but I wonder if this a good place to put an oil-water heat exchanger, and if it would help cool the oil, or simply overheat the coolant.

[Ltngbrz]

Dealer fixer a few weeks ago after putting up with the burning oil smell for 10,000 miles. Now it's back. Just got home after dealer denying there was a problem again. They even put it up on a lift and tried to show me there was no leak. Took it from them and drove the hell out of it for 20 miles. Let it cool down and imagine this- small amount of oil at base of plate. It's back with them again to give it another try. If it leaks again, I'm picking up some seal at Autozone and doing it right myself. Tired of all the driving back and forth to the dealer.

[SloS13]

Originally Posted by Ltngbrz

Dealer fixer a few weeks ago after putting up with the burning oil smell for 10,000 miles. Now it's back. Just got home after dealer denying there was a problem again. They even put it up on a lift and tried to show me there was no leak. Took it from them and drove the hell out of it for 20 miles. Let it cool down and imagine this- small amount of oil at base of plate. It's back with them again to give it another try. If it leaks again, I'm picking up some seal at Autozone and doing it right myself. Tired of all the driving back and forth to the dealer.

I had much success on my third or fourth try. Make sure everything is super clean and goop that stuff on the plate (I used Permatex Ultra Gray). Let it set up for a little while (so it doesn't run), put on car finger tight. Wait 12 hours and torque.

As another member recommended, I jacked up the rear of the car to keep oil from contaminating the drying gasket material.

[Marrk]

Originally Posted by SloS13

I had much success on my third or fourth try. Make sure everything is super clean and goop that stuff on the plate (I used Permatex Ultra Gray). Let it set up for a little while (so it doesn't run), put on car finger tight. Wait 12 hours and torque.

As another member recommended, I jacked up the rear of the car to keep oil from contaminating the drying gasket material.

Is that per the Permatex instructions? I haven't used that product in a while and I forget the application procedures,

Thanks.