timing reseal cover

I think of it as a common issue with Toyota dealers.

These engines will weep a tiny amount of oil from the seam at the timing cover. This is true, and it isn't hard to find the stains to prove it on lots of our cars. But the actual amount lost is not worth caring about in most cases.

As far as the importance of repair? Personally I would put it at about 0.06 on the scale to 10. Dealers have figured it out that these engines will reliably show a wet stain in that one spot after a few years, and they can scare some fraction of their customers into doing a very profitable but relatively unnecessary repair.

Here's the reality check: How much oil are you actually losing?

Prove it for yourself. Pull the dipstick at a few intervals and see if you can actually spot a difference.

Look at the back bumper and back window of the car. Oil leaked out of the engine tends to get stuck in the slipstream and winds up on the back of the car. No oily film on the back window? No loss measured by dipstick? Then your oil leak is not worth worrying about and your dealer is looking to make a mountain out of a molehill.

You'll want to find another mechanic anyway. We hardly ever need one for our Prius now, but I look at this time as an opportunity to try the small timers and figure out which ones I like while the stakes are low. That way when the car gets older and the dealer is unaffordable, I'll already have history with the neighborhood mechanic.

 

An oil leak in a 2017 Prius C, yeah i don't think so.