finga11

have 2001 lexus is300 roughly 145000 miles have a pretty bad oil leak was hoping for some information as to cause seems to become from the vvti labeled black plastic casing here are some pics have pretty nice amount of oil on my driveway have been topping it off as needed but want to fix the problem

Shawnmack

Is it on the top of the engine bay

mball19

You should pull your top timing belt cover and make sure there is no oil on your timing belt. It could be cam seals, VVTi pulley seal, crank seal, valve cover gaskets, or something else. There is a lot in that area.

sekone5

iTrader: (3)

Agreed,I had to replace my cam seals,both main seals,valve cover gaskets etc all around the same mileage myself when I started my build for the same reasons.

Supraguy88

My money is on the intake cam gear. That vvti pulley will leak and splash onto the timing cover and leak around the edges. You can either replace the entire thing or order an aftermarket rebuild kit. There are some video online showing how to do it.

onepointon

I second that on a possible bad cam gear with that amount of oil. Could also be cam seals.

Supraguy88

The cam seal would leak behind the rear timing gear cover and drip down not splash back up to the front of the timing belt cover. I've made that misdiagnoses before and I've seen it multiple times.

PIONEER

iTrader: (2)

I would say the cam seals are leaking. Its very common with these engines.
The seals are about $10, but would take you an afternoon to replace them.

acacg

VVTi gear. just did mine. i actually used a toyota canister style oring and fixed my vvti gear. very simple to do if you are MECHANICALLY inclined. Search VVTI gear repair or buy one for a couple hundred bucks for a new gear at toyota or lexus dealer. replace all seals and you timing belt.

NoMoreVTEC

more than likely it's your cam seals. Just did a timing belt on mine yesterday (3.10.14) and the seals literally came out in 4 pieces each. Granted my leak was nowhere near that bad. My advice is to remove the top timing belt cover and inspect the belt to be sure there's no oil on it. No oil= cam seals.

oil= vvti cam pulley..buy a new one.


youtube search "Jeff's Garage" about the VVTi rebuild. In my opinion its not worth it. Just buy a new vvti set up. I believe it's 150

acacg

just go ahead and buy another VVTi gear that's been seating on a shelf for years.

And like I said its not hard if you're mechanically inclined! Either way. its your money.

djmcgenius

I'm having this same exact problem on my 02 with 132k miles. Ever figure out exactly where the oil was coming from?

Boasted

I have the same problem with mine and i was wondering if ur saying that its the vvti gear o ring that u are talking about and if so would that little o ring caused so much oil spill??

1997Soarer

iTrader: (1)

Most likely front cam seals, VVTI cam gear, or front main seal. If you see lots of oil inside of the cover, then it's probably front main

Boasted

Hey mine like dat would it still be that cuz on his the oil droplets are not the same as mine. Mine drop from the oil pan but i dont think its thw oil pan since the wind would be able to push up dry tp the lower part of engine