Timingcover gasket - $4,500 repair???

Welcome.

How much oil is seeping out? Did you notice the issue prior to the dealership informing you?

 

You should write or call Toyota corporate and tell them about this unreasonable repair. No car should be such an expensive expense under 100k. Ask them to cover the cost under a goodwill warranty.

 

Are you the original owner? Have an extended warranty?

The leak will be on the passenger side of the car in the engine bay. The leak does not sound bad. The bulk of the spend would be for labor as parts will be minimal.

I had the valve cover gasket seeping slightly. When I had the car at the local dealer, they saw it and it was covered under warranty. This was a $1600 job, with over $1300 for labor.

If the leak isn't significant, I would live with it and just monitor.

 

There's a saying in submarines:
If you find water.....it's a leak.
If the water finds YOU....it's a flood.

Floods obviously require a different level of action/concern than leaks do.
Leaks mean you have some cleaning to do.
Floods mean that your kids might just be calling somebody ELSE Mommy or Daddy in a few years.

SO.....if you really love your Prius and want a long happy relationship, here's what I would do:

1. Contact Toyota of North America about this dealership and give them a copy of the estimate.
The timing cover gasket is a known issue with G3s, and in a fair and just world this would be covered by a TSB and additional warranty coverage. Since the world is neither fair nor just, Toyota hasn't been media-shamed into punishing dealers that try to fleece their customers......yet.

2. The timing cover gasket is supposed to keep bad stuff out (dirt, grit, etc....) and good stuff in (oil) and when one fails usually it's just like getting a cut on your finger. A little oil will weep out and sometimes a gritty, oily scab will form where the gasket is failing.
Other times....when other gaskets fail, it's more like a gun shot wound.
What your dealer is advising you to do is to have open heart surgery to fix a paper cut on your finger.
OK....so the gasket is defective, probably because it's always been defective, and eventually it will probably have to be replaced.
This should be about a $1500 repair....or actually.....it should be about a $200 repair but because the timing cover is deep inside the engine compartment, you have to remove lots of stuff to get to the $10 gasket - which leads me to the part where you should NOT get this repaired right away.
The same crooks that wanted to charge you nearly FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS to do this repair are the ones that you're going to trust to take lots of stuff out of your engine compartment and put it all back in without having left over parts or damaged pieces after they're done????

No thanks.

3. Is your car using oil? Do you check your oil every thousand miles?
This will be a good excuse to start doing that.
If the cut on your finger is really bad?
It's going to bleed.
You'll notice when you start leaving spots where you park (good job that you noticed that this is not presently occurring!!)

4. Reduce your OCI (oil change interval) to 5K and monitor your oil level every other time you get gas.
Personally?
I'd go and look right now because anyone who is willing to try to fleece one of their customers out of that much money would probably try something like not changing out the filter- or use cheaper oil - or not fill it properly.

Good Luck!

 

My pleasure. Monitoring will be key.

Good luck.

 

Our 2011 had the timing cover gasket replaced under warranty, as it was within the mileage limit of the engine warranty.

If it wasn't under warranty, I would've just monitored the situation as it was a seepage, not a bad leak.

 

Here's my thread with pictures:

Timing cover oil leak | PriusChat

 

$4500!!!! That's daylight robbery!!! Bas*****!

 

Dealers are CROOKS.
Go somewhere else, or DIY

 

Hopefully OP gets some relief from Toyota Customer Care.

If he has been going to a dealership for some or all of his maintenance, I bet Toyota will provide some relief. Ideally 100%. 50% will be 2nd best.

Fingers crossed for OP.

EDIT.
Just realized, OP should have insisted on seeing this "leak." Trust, but verify.

Would spilling oil when refilling, possibly dribble down the side and onto of the timing chain cover?

Hmm, conspiracy theory now, service is in cahoots w/ sales to steer high dollar repairs into a used/new vehicle purchase.

Some people had an extended warranty that happen to work out for them. For the vast majority of people, it does not. Extended warranties are a high profit add-on, and high pressure pitch to those who don't know enough about cars. Extended warranties are written by insurance companies that know the failure rate of vehicle components and repair costs. The rules are written in their favor w/ all kinds of caveats. Extended warranties are like casinos: the house always wins.

 

It should be 50% of something like $1700, not $4500.

 

The proper way to analyzes an oil leak is to clean the area with a degreaser then add a tracing dye to the oil. After about a week of use, the engine can the be inspected with a black light for any telltale oil leaks. It's my bet that the dealer is blowing smoke up your tail pipe. Hell, without the use of a tracing dye, they are just guessing that there is an oil leak. My bet is that it's residual oil from a sloppy lube technician.

 

Out of curiosity, what did they diagnose as the cause of the "check hybrid system" light and what did they do, in addition to the oil change?

 

One very important point to remember when working with dealers is they are NEITHER owned nor controlled by the vehicle OEM - they are Franchised Dealers; aka: INDEPENDANT BUSINESSES. The factory has little, if any, control over the business practices of a dealer. That's why dealers like the franchise laws just the way they are, all the benefits and no real accountability.

I would say that any "leak" worth fixing, much less needing to be fixed due to a risk of dirt/moisture entry to the engine, WILL PUT OIL ALL OVER THE PLACE! Obviously, that is not your situation and therefore the dealer is fishing for work!

You stated that you are the original owner, time to find out how good your dealer is! Presuming you brought it to the dealer you purchased it from initially, for the oil change that caused this situation. My suggestion is to bring it to ANOTHER Toyota dealer familiar with Prii and ask them to check for an oil leak. My bet is that either none exists, or that the estimate to repair is 1/3 the previous quote. In EITHER case, a visit with the first dealer's GM would be in order.

 

I see two issues: the degree of the leak, and the $4500 charge. The latter is way too high, several responders have already chimed in that $1600~$1700 is the going rate.