What should I do to fix this leak?

[ctan800]

2002 Corolla Sport, E110 8th Generation



My car already was noted for a oil consumption issue at a current 176,000 miles, but fortunately, it may NOT be the piston rings. It could have been a slowly worsening leak the entire time. Hopefully only at the timing chain tensioner area, but I do request your opinion on other sections at fault. Before I head out to the auto parts store and start buying parts that is.





Yesterday on October 30th, I was driving close to midnight when I smelled the odor of exhaust within the cabin. Pulled over as I saw white/gray smoke come out from under the hood. Noticed that my car is not overheating, and has lost no coolant.



Opening the hood, there is a "crackling" kind of sound, like bacon and eggs. But it smelled like gag-reflex inducing bacon and eggs.



So far I felt I need the following immediate procedures done by myself

1. Replace Timing Chain Tensioner and install new O-Ring

2. Replace Valve Cover Gasket



And then keep an eye out for other components in that area. Namely that power steering pump.

So I am posting these pictures on other sites too, including social networks, which is why I explained a lot of the captions in the photos to a painstaking detail

This is where I suspected, Timing Chain Tensioner is at fault (for now). The most cruddiest part of the damage

This morning attempted to take another shot at a different angle

Also got under car, fresh oil UNDER my transmission housing (C59)

This morning, checked spark plugs. The carbon deposits are been scorched off the electrodes

Coil packs have brown rings, showing both valvetrain and head gasket wear







Exhaust manifold. Not sure if this junction is normal looking

Noticed a strange unconnected hose...

Most of the oil appears to have leaked from the tensioner to the drive belt, where it was launched like spaghetti strands (idk how to describe it)

 

[scottfelsen]

Clean everything with de-greaser and paper towels. Rags are good too. Get everything as clean as possible and drive for a mile. Then check to see whee the leak is.

 

[ctan800]

UPDATE 11/2/15: Hey everyone, I located the leak, which is confirmed to be the timing chain tensioner, and I also replaced the gaskets on the valve cover as a precaution. I spent most of the time waiting for the parts to arrive at the store (I had to request the tensioner from another so it could be delivered to walking distance there). Took me, about 3 hours? Although all of the guides I have seen so far in forum posts elsewhere have left out details that I thought were needed (for example, unbolt and take off the electronic throttle control module to make it easier).

Here it is, the old Timing Chain Tensioner. Comparing it against the new replacement, the O-ring does not fuller cover the area anymore. It was hardened like a rock, and completely seized in one corner of the canal. So any amount of oil under high pressure and RPM can squirt right out, land on the exhaust manifold heat shield, smoke and ignite and cause a car fire.

Several things of concern. I discovered a exhaust leak about a day after I finished all leak repairs and changed the oil. I have not taken off the heat shield yet, because I have two exams and a family court hearing between now and Wednesday, but I will get it after court. I’ll update this again around Sunday.


EXHAUST LEAK (suspected): smoke is coming from INSIDE the heat shield surrounding the exhaust manifold/4-1 headers (it looks kind of like a header from what I have seen on the Dorman replacement online), It’s a white-grayish smoke, probably oil? It also smells extra-nasty, like the rest of the burning oil during the day of seal failure at October 30th. I am not finished with checking up on this. I gotta get my real life errands straightened out (which was why I was working so frantically to fix the cause of the oil leaks days before so I can make it to court on time).

POROUS VALVE COVER (confirmed, but no picture yet): so I was driving around as soon as I fixed the car’s tensioner and valve cover gaskets. I drove about 5 miles at a time, pulled over, and popped the hood to check up. To my horror, I witnessed oil oozing out of the top-left “fastener hole” or “bolting hole”, for that optional black-plastic decorative cover that originally came with the car. I immediately shut the engine off, and grabbed spare 10mm bolts to attach all 3 of the holes and the 4th fastening nut thing.

BENT/SLICED VALVE COVER “OIL ROOF” (I do not know what it’s called, but here is a pic): When I removed valve cover to check on and replace the gaskets, on the top of the cover, there is a thin metal plate. On the corner where your oil-filler cap fits over, the intake camshaft’s VVT-I peg-thingy must have bent and sliced it. It looks really old, so I don’t know when it happened, but when I later changed the oil, I found no metal fillings. I simply bent it back into position as flat as possible.

BROKEN OIL PASSAGES (Maybe? Take a look please): When I took the cover off, the holes where my screws are supposed to go through, are filled all the way to the top with oil. Take a look at the valvetrain pictures.

So, I have already ordered or performed…

1. New Dorman Brand 2002 Corolla Exhaust Manifold + Heat Shield + gaskets, model 674-546 (without paying O’Reilly’s yet, not until I confirm the issues). The reason why I called it a “header” was because on the top-down view on the online photos, there are 4 individual pipes leading to a single collector, which immediately gets piped right into the catalytic converter that was oddly placed in a section about under the center console. I was confused the extremely short-design and 4-1 setup, but apparently that is what sits under that smoking heat shield. I’m guessing it was all meant to maximize emissions disposal by funneling it into the Cat as quickly as possible.

This is what I think it looks like UNDER the heat shield

2. Some generic brand basic but compatible Timing Chain Tensioner (Installed): Despite what others said about cheapo parts years ago in various forums, I found that the basic AutoZone replacement for the tensioner was a perfect match, in size, shape and operation. It was a lot harder to put it on than to take the tensioner off though.


Snapping the tensioner into the hooking position was easy, but when I was mounting it, there was that other oil-control device (the little valve/tank thing to the left of the tensioner) that was blocking my way. What I did instead, was let the tensioner hang on the top bolt, and then use a ratchet to bang the lower side into position until it instantly popped right in there.

Also easier to get the plunger to click open than I thought, didn’t even require me to wait before I reassembled the valve cover. All I did was take a ratchet and 19mm socket to the alternator nut, and then rocked it back and forth until I heard that metal click

3. Felpro Cheapo Rubber Blue Valve Cover Gasket + Permatex RTV Ultra Black (installed): Only costed me less than $30 for both of it together. After I finished cleaning where the gasket will sit, I placed the valve cover upside down on the ground, fitted the blue new gasket into the “canals”, and then made sure they stayed in, by lightly tapping it with my rubber hammer. Then I grabbed the cardboard flat box that the gasket came from, turned the valve cover right-side up over it, and started hammering it onto the cardboard while sitting on the ground.

Then I laid out a evenly spaced “snake” of the Permatex stuff, starting from the top-left, an inch away after the timing chain mechanism (there is a picture guide in a different forum, I didn’t have time to take pics and my phone was out of juice at that time anyways), all the way until 1-inch from the bottom of the timing chain mechanism.

I quickly set the valve cover over it, gave it a good “squish” from the top so the sealant can harden properly, and then began to bolt down the valve cover in this specific order: 2 of the center bolts tightened to hand-tight, 4 of the major 10mm bolts, the brass-colored long ones, also hand-tight, finally the rest of the 10 and the 12 mm bolts, each being only hand-tight.

Then I slowly made my way, torqueing down each bolt to 8 foot pounds with a cheapo clicker torque wrench, by starting with “opposite sides” of the valve cover first.

 

[ctan800]

OTHER THINGS I WANTED TO ADD that I do not believe was mentioned in any of the guides I read. I spent at least a half hour, sitting down in the hot sun frantically looking for more online tips and downrated YouTube videos to get past obstacles in this task.

a. Don’t forget to get a “rubber hammer” and a flathead screwdriver. Seriously, the ordinary sized flathead screwdriver was my most useful tool for this task. Saved me so much time.

I went by the logic, that if it was supposed to pry off, but it won’t, like the freshly unbolted valve cover, I put a screwdriver into where the old gasket encrusted itself into (where cover meets deck of cylinder head), and then gave it a light hit with the rubber hammer. Instantly popped off.

Same deal for the timing chain tensioner if it ever “gets stuck”. I was warned that the tensioner is “spring-loaded” and that it can eject with force. Well, it all depends on the condition of it and your engine. Mine was completely sealed in there with burnt oil after taking off both nuts. I took my screwdriver and hammer, hit it once where it was supposed to separate, and it SLOWLY squished out.

And if it was supposed to loosen, but it won’t, take a socket to it and hit it with the rubber hammer. I did that same thing to remove the downstream O2 sensor in another job, except I use a ton of WD-40 with Hammer + 22mm Box Wrench.

And the flathead is handy for taking off connectors, assuming they were never serviced since the car was built. Some of those plastic clip tabs don’t work anymore. So I jabbed it with the screwdriver, manually moved the tab and released the connector.

b. Unfasten the Electronic Throttle Control, held down by 10mm bolts in front of the passenger side of the engine bay. Makes your task as in removing the tensioner much easier. Don’t forget about connector to the right.

c. Pull off the coil-pack computer connector. That looks like a rubber hose, that the plastic rail that connects to your coilpacks eventually lead to, which is actually a insulator for the delicate wires inside. It is directly behind your tensioner on a vertical stem, and moving it out the way will give you a better view. Do not yank on it. Just slowly separate the boot and observe the clip connector, and take your flathead to the tab.

d. Be prepared to grab some exotic looking extensions and sockets. I noticed others wanted to use ratcheting combination wrenches or deep sockets, but not all their suggestions would work, it depends on what works for you.

I actually used the 3/8” drive-to-1/4” adapter from a cheap store brand tool kit to create a “short extension bar”, that is not too long so I can put my hand all the way down there, and not too short, where other sensitive components were obstruct my rotation.

e. Try some other positions if it isn’t working. I remembered getting on my back, after the car was jacked up on the stands, and I realized I can reach the bottom 2nd nut of the tensioner by putting my arm and ratchet through the passenger wheel well. Right between the struts and joints, above the right tire.

f. If you are too big to get in there (I’m really tall), try unbolting the A/C Low-Hose and gently moving the metal pipe out of the way: Just enough so you can finish your task. I didn’t want to fatigue the pipes and snap off my A/C line. But me monkeying around for hours, under the sun, just to put the stupid tensioner back in while being pretty much blind, completely got the best of me.

g. I definitely used a lot more tools than what I was recommended on the online guides. But what others said about the task, and the required tools, they were going by the bare-basics and were performed using their way and their body type (you need a 10, 12, 14, 19, and 22mm socket, or some of them depending on what method you are going to use).