Timing Cover Leak

Timing cover leak is currently happening to mine. Discovered at 68k miles by the dealer and Im now at 80k. With little to no cleaning down there, it is just now leaving small small drips. Currently in the process of trading mine in into a new Off road. Not looking to pay for the repair. Going to put the same amount of money down (5k) into a new one to achieve near my current payment. Message me if you have any questions Ive done tons of research on the timing cover. I was never too concerned with it, I just knew eventually I want either want to fix it or pay into a new one.

 

Like I said it’s too bad the engineers at the very least made it easy to fix from the front . Then to me it would have really not been a big deal at all. Remove the front stuff , pull the cover and reseal. It’s like everything today is so squeezed into a small spot that nothing is a accessible. I used to be able to swap plugs in those old cars in 10 minutes with a cup of coffee and a donut on paper on the air cleaner . Now it’s so involved on most vehicles

 

also it is just not one cover, it comes off in like 3 sections. when assembling they have to work somewhat fast, no lunch break half way thru. each layer and component helps tighten down the entire cover . they can't go to lunch half way thru, the sealer will dry up.

 

Gotta love modern stuff , nothing is simple anymore, and it will get worse.At least the first gen even though you had to do the timing belt every 100 k you had access to everything reasonably. The engineers today don’t even think about that any more . Stupid . Even for the companies when warranty work is done

 

Update 7/5/23 - Hey all! Figured I'd update everyone on what I did with the truck. I decided to just fix the rack and pinion (around 2k$) and leave the timing cover as is for now. I really didnt want to restart the loan on my vehicle as I am trying to get into a house in the next 2 years. After talking with many of the service techs and advisors, they all in fact had timing cover leaks on their current tacomas and state they just drive as is and clean time to time. They all said its very common down here in the Arizona desert to see the timing cover leaking. They cleaned up the area around my leak and in fact looks really good. Of course its going to leak and Im going to monitor it as time goes but until I move out of the state of Arizona, I will not be buying a new Tacoma until then.

Thanks for the advice and comments everyone!

 

smart, please report back and let us know,,,,
How bad does this really leak?
I have heard some say it is hardly anything, though I am sure the accumulation over time could get nasty. I am wondering if it leaks so little, could you just clean under there once or twice a year and barely notice any drops?

 

I would figure out the price to repair and come half way with the buyer . It doesn’t look bad but needs to be addressed if they agree . Get another buyer if they don’t Tacoma's sell them selves .