First attempt was under warranty, i then moved across country and realized it was leaking again so i had to pay 3500 out of pocket. I took it to my friends dad whos a master tech at one of the largest toyota dealers in the country to fix it, he replaced many of the gaskets and O rings. Couple thousand miles later its leaking oil out of the timing cover again. Could this be a manufactures defect? A larger problem causing the timing cover to fail again and again. if so would warranty be brought back into the picture because they failed to identify the problem the first time?
Depends on where on the timing cover it's leaking from. The harmonic balancer mounts through a seal on the timing cover. If there is a groove worn into the nose of the balancer and they didn't use a repair sleeve on it, it will leak, even if a new main seal was used. It's always a good idea to get a new balancer when replacing the timing cover with a new main seal. You need to find out specifically where, on the timing cover, it is leaking from.
I would make the dealer figure it out.
@jpparisio I called toyota cutomer cares and they still want me to pay the diagnostic fee 🙄 but i guess thats the next step.
I am not sure I would take them.up on that offer. They could not figure it out the first time. I would try to find a good mechanic to diagnose the problem. Once found I would ask Toyota to fix it. I don't know if they will though.
@doc thanks for the reply, im asking the service manager if this was done, but as far as i know they just replaced all the gaskets and o ring.
Did they use a repair sleeve on the balancer?
Seems to be leaking on the driver side over the power steering lines