NGG

Gentlemen;
I was surfing the ES350 forum and found a reference to reported oil leaks in the GS350 and IS350 engines. The post was made by someone who seems to work for Lexus/Toyota Corporate. For more info refer to the ES forum, Thread title: "My ES 350 had a oil leak, great!", Post#2. Or link to
http://sr1.clublexus/forums/showthread.php?t=263951.

Have any of you had oil leaks that were diagnosed as coming from the timing chain cover? Let me know. Thanks.
NGG

NGG

C'mon guys how about some responses. Even negative ones would be helpful. Just looking for some reassurance that this might be isolated instances.

Evitzee

With all the obsessivness shown on this board about dust and dirt, wouldn't you think that if there was an endemic problem with an oil leak it would posted??? I don't think there is a problem.

Ramon

Over 23K miles on my IS350 and no oil leaks.

danger4o5

I posted an thread about this a few days ago from the GS forum.

Irishman06

I still think this isn't a big deal like people make it out to be. Honestly, I've seen what's done before these engines are put into production, and they would've found something this serious. Its possible its a production problem, but I doubt it.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

I'm around 17.5k now. So I open the hood, and I'll be damned, there's a pretty good sized puddle of liquid down there! So I'm totally panicked like any good gearhead should be. I get out the flashlight, pull off the top cover for some added visibility and lo and behold, it's water not oil. Might have something to do with driving in pouring rain for two hours this morning. But hey, not a drop of oil anywhere.

It's always possible there was a short run of covers that don't quite fit. It's also possible someone at the factory didn't get properly trained on FIPG and didn't use enough sealant. BTW, the black stuff is EXCELLENT sealant! And it's damned sure not cheap (I think I paid $17 for the last tube I bought from Toyota), but it works on oil pans and motorcycle engine cases like few other sealants do. I use it for just about everything like this - including my Getrag 233 in my Supra - and it works extremely well.

Sorry - no oil leaks here, and no mention of problems with oil leaks from my SA friends here in California.

Irishman06

Possible, but doubtful. Toyota has quality checks out the wazoo, and all moving line work is standardized and trained to death. That's one of the primary principles of the Toyota Production System (standardized work eliminates wasted movement). You know that "black stuff" is just normal silicone RTV, right? But I agree, its miracle material.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

It's not the normal Permatex stuff. It fills better and it spreads really nicely on engine cases (where you can't afford to screw it up because too much sealant = migration into the crank bearings.) It even managed to last 12 years between my cast iron 2JZ block and the aluminium upper oil pan. It really is better than the average non-acetic acid cured silicone RTV.

Ramon

Toyota builds lemons just like everone else. They are not indestructable, contrary to what you may believe. QC is not going to catch 100% of all defects, as hard as it may be to swallow for soem toyota/lexus fanboys, things do fall through the cracks... Yes, even at Toyota facilities. Need I remind you of the previous generation 3 and 3.3 litre V6's that are prone to self destruct should you let one too many oil changes go a bit longer than 3k miles. Granted Toyota quality is better than most, if not all other manufacturers, but **** happens; especially on a brand new engine.

A formula1 engine is designed to last for 2 3 hour races with rev's at 18k rpm's with like 80% duty cycle or some crazy numbers like that... Does that mean it's going to last 10, 20, 30k+ miles at lower loads? Not necessarily. Point being, just becuase they beat the engine up during QC, doesn't mean problems won't creep up in the long haul.

Irishman06

Sorry, but you're missing a big part of Toyota's production processes. The two major tenets of the Toyota Production System are Just-In-Time delivery and jidoka, or built-in quality. In a perfect world, Toyota facilities wouldn't even have a QC area in the plant. The quality would be verified by every team member on every process before it even left that team member's area. But you're right, mistakes happen. They happen very rarely at plants like Tahara and Kyushu, though.

Why does Toyota get sued and settle out of court when this happens, and all the other automakers just charge you to replace it without a big hooplah?

This doesn't say anything about QC, its design verification and analysis. And because Toyota is big on getting everything right before launching the product, problems like this are rare. That's the bulk of how Toyota builds quality into their cars, pre-release testing and proven technologies.

Ramon

Yes, problems are rare but they do happen, even to Toyota, that is the whole point. As Toyota grows, these problems become less and less rare every year. The fact of the matter is that with the volume of cars that Toyota is producing problems WILL happen. It's anumbers game and it is inevitable. If you choose not to believe that, then please don't even bother to respond becuase at that point it is obvious that you fall into the fanboy catagory and there won't be a reason to continue the discussion.

wadesi

Hi All,
I have an 06 IS350 with 40k miles on it. I took it in last week to Toyota for a standard oil change. The nice folks at Toyota let me know that there was some oil residue present when they were changing the oil and I should get it checked out.

Bingo! Took it to Lexus of Bellevue and they diagnosed a leak in the timing cover. Took them about 2 days to order the part and 18 hours of labor to fix the problem. It'll be with them for about a week total. I would normally be pissed but the customer service at the dealership is so good that I really don't mind. I have a new RX350 as a loaner and I'd rather they take all the time they need to fix any problems they can find. Better to get this stuff out of the way than in 6 months when I'll be out of warranty.

This is a confirmed "issue". The service dept rep has seen 5/6 of these come through with the same issue. If the Toyota rep had not warned me about this I would not have known. No puddle of oil. Just residue where it should not have been.

Cheers!

dair805

I have a is350 with 50k on it and Yes it leaks motor oil. I took it to the dealer to get it fix and the first time I was there, they told me it was fixed. They only tight up the bolt and thats all but it was leaking still. Next week I took the car back and I left it for a two weeks. This time the had to take it a part, removed the whole front side of the engine (timing cover, etc). This time they used the black silicon (before had the red stuff) which they said it was the wring silicone but it stills leaks oil!!! Wtf?? I have been in the dealer more than 3 times for oil leak and they can't fix it In order to find the oil leak, you have lift the car in the air, take the cover off where the oil filter is, get a flashlight and look on the RIGHT FRONT side of the engine. You'll see two computers on that side, that's where the leaks is coming. It doesn't leak on the garage floor because the plastic cover that goes under the cover (keep water away) has a sponge and that's what gets all the oil. It impossible to see the leak from the bottom. It can only be seen from under the car. Please, let me know what to do or if anybody else has the same issue.

bronz

64k on my 2008 is350 and no oil leaks, no issues.