Leaky Camplate, Timing cover, Dealership, Oh My..
 

Had my purchased-used/certified '13 FR-S since 2015 and, just to make sure there were never any questions regarding warranty claims up until it expires at 100K miles/July 2019, I've had our local dealership do all of the work and maintenance on it. They're good guys, and typically do right by their customers; I've seen them go far out of their way for folks.


Brief history... had cam coverplate leak almost immediately. They fixed it without any argument. Leaked again a few months later. I had purchased the RaceSeng plate, so I brought it in, showed them the design w/ o-ring, they liked it, but weren't comfortable with a non-Toyota part and insisted on letting them reseal the stock plate again. I did, they did, and it leaked again within the year... worse. Car was really starting to smell inside when sitting still from the oil burning on the exhaust, and I mentioned it to them when I was in for an oil change. They told me it was leaking again. I asked the service manager (who I always talk to) if he was OK with me putting on the RaceSeng plate, and this time he said, "Of Course.. great design. No problem."



When I did, I stupidly dropped on of the three bolts down and it disappeared either on top of the cat or the plastic engine shield. Great. Jacked up the car, jack stands, pulled the shield, looked around, and there was oil EVERYwhere. The cam plate had been leaking, but the timing cover was now a major part of the problem. The cam plate had been torqued down INCREDIBLY hard... almost had to take a breaker bar to one of the bolts.. and they had used black RTV. That, in and of itself, isn't bad, but it takes 24 hours to cure, and they did the repair while I waited last time.. an hour or so. The tech probably thought that tightening those bolts good and hard would help prevent leaks. All it did was squeeze out almost all of the RTV, and there were copious gaps to prove it when I pulled the plate off.
Anyway..retrieved the bolt, took a ton of pics documenting the condition and location of the timing cover leak, installed the RaceSeng plate (which has held up GREAT), replaced the shield, and called the dealership. They got me right in, kept the car for three days, and did the timing cover. So far, so good, but I've got a question...


When I got the car back, they hadn't cleaned up anything.. I reached underneath where the leak had been and came up with a hand and arm totally coated with greasy, grimy oil. The entire lower part of the cover around the dipstick was/is still sheathed in 1/8" thick sheet of grime... almost no way to even tell if it's still leaking or not because there's still so much crap everywhere.


I called the tech's attention to this and he said that, because of where the cat is right underneath the engine, there's really no way to clean it up. When I asked him about the best way to wash/detail an engine bay, he said he has no idea, and cautioned about any kind of hosing-down because water will get in there and ruin electrics. Hmmm...


Anyway, I don't like having it so gross in there, mostly because it makes it hard to tell if the reseal is holding or not. Given their treatment of the cam coverplate, I'm a little less confident than I'd like in the timing cover until I see for myself that it's not leaking.



That's the tale. The question is... and I feel like a fool for asking this.. but...


Anybody wanna walk me through a good safe way to cleaning the grime off my engine caused by those previous leaks? I really expected the dealership to clean it up... was that unreasonable? If it is, tell me. I can take it.

Dealership should have either cleaned it or paid for it to be cleaned. Kind of BS that they didn't frankly.

Easiest way is honestly going to be nice and old fashioned. Buy a firm bristled plastic wire brush, a sack of painters rags and some Purple Power. Jack her up and go to town.

How bout brake cleaner and hose it off?!.. While the engine is cold of course.

That purple cleaner is no joke. Spay it on and let it soak and then rinse it off. You probably will not even have to scrub.

You should be okay rinsing it but don't use a pressure washer.

Welp, back-in-the-day, when I gave a shit about whether or not the outside of my cars engine was clean or not, I used this stuff - cleaned er up good.


humfrz

That engine degreaser works great, use it myself.