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Noise and Timing Cover Leak

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by justinw, Nov 12, 2015.

  1. justinw

    justinw Junior Member

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    2010 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Monday when I started my car it made a ... thudding noise and there was vibration in the steering wheel. I turned the car off quickly and did a quick look over the exterior and engine bay. Nothing looked obviously wrong. Got in turned the car on again. Same noise and vibration. I let it run a little longer and the noise lessened and then resumed. I turned the car off and had my wife call in to get me an appointment at the dealership. When I started the car a third time it did not make the noise. I drove to the appointment at the dealership. After having the car back for a couple of hours and running diagnostics their best guess is that the small leak I have in the timing cover caused a loss in oil pressure. The diagnostic did not pick up any error codes. At no point did any lights come on in the dash. Since the car no longer made the noise I took it and did not have them do any work. It has not made the noise since and I have driven it everyday.

    I have read other posts here about timing cover leaks and the general consensus seems to be as long as the oil does not go low it is a thing that can be ignored. I have had the leak for a while. There are no oil marks in my drive from the leak.

    The price they quote me every time it comes up is $2500.

    After thinking about it, would there have been errors if there was a drop in oil pressure? Does this seem like a reasonable explanation? Why is it $2500 when other posts seem to have an estimate closer to $1700.

    This is a 2010 Prius II with 110k miles.
     
    #1 justinw, Nov 12, 2015
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    welcome! there is no way an oil leak so small, that you are not losing oil on the dipstick, could cause a drop in pressure, or the symptoms you are describing. typical dealer quackery. they have no clue, so they hope to sucker you into unneeded work. while not guaranteeing the fix. you were smart to walk away.
     
    #2 bisco, Nov 12, 2015
  3. PriusGuy32

    PriusGuy32 Prius Driver Extraordinaire

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    Time for a 2nd opinion.... for $2500 you can have a low mileage used engine installed into your Prius! That price seems high to me. Plus, the engines lubrication system doesnt exactly malfunction that way - the engine can have a pretty significant leak and still have normal oil pressure. So unless your Prius was hemorrhaging oil - as in, you lost all 4-5 quarts in under 60 seconds, then somebody at the shop is full of shimity.

    Run, dont walk away. You are going to be the dealerships owner's boat payment & probably the mansion payment too, lol.
     
    #3 PriusGuy32, Nov 12, 2015
  4. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    Maybe you had the engine knock on cold startup?

    Did you run the car briefly the night before, maybe to move the car in the driveway, where the engine started up but didn't go through a complete start/stop cycle before the car was shutdown?
     
    #4 xliderider, Nov 12, 2015
  5. justinw

    justinw Junior Member

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    II
    I did exactly this. I moved the Prius into the street so I could back our van up to the garage, it may have all been under electric power though, I do not recall. Is there some place I could read more about cold startup and engine knock?
     
    #5 justinw, Nov 12, 2015
    PriusGuy32 likes this.
  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    ya, about 50 threads here, and 5 million posts.:p

    good call XL!(y)
     
    #6 bisco, Nov 12, 2015
  7. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    #7 xliderider, Nov 12, 2015
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