5.7 Oil leak - is Cam Tower or Front Main? Or??

[Jetboy]

I've developed a slow leak down the front of the engine. Tried to take some good photos. It's a 2016 5.7 Tundra with 80k on it. I've owned it since 20k, so I don't know the fully history. But it's a recent new leak. Leak is slow at this point. No drips on the ground ever that I've seen. My garage is very clean and dry, so I'd see them if they were there.

It looks like a cam tower possibly. I can see the oil path pretty well. The only real "wet" area is the bolt where the red arrow is pointing to. There is visible oil assuming gravity pulling it down the engine, begins around where the green arrow is. There is no wetness or oil sign anywhere above the yellow line. So if the oil is coming from the head/valve cover/cam tower areas, that's where it originates. Seems most likely that it's the 3 way joint between the cam tower, head, and timing cover. Any other places it would likely come from?

Also - This joint design has been a problem forever. There's no reason the cam tower assembly can't be housed INSIDE the valve cover and remove an entire set of oil seals. A bit disappointed in Toyota engineering on this one.

Anyway - what do you think experts? Cam Tower or something else I'm not thinking of?

Thanks for the help!

This is not a video - (it is a video that I screen shot captured but don't try to push play)

 

[Jgrauman]

I'd go with valve cover but it's tough to tell from the zoomed in Pic. Check if your valve cover bolts are loose at all. 80k is about when they start to leak

 

[JLink]

There’s a good thread about this on tundras.com if you haven’t found it already.

 

[Jetboy]

Interesting follow-up on this. I ended up with squeaky idler pulley. Replaced it a few months ago. The build-up residue on there comes directly from the water pump seal. I think the dirt accumulation in the oil left on by the coolant over a lot of miles looks like an oil leak. So water pump is on my list of repairs.

I pulled the fan in the fan pulley off. Much easier to do the work on the front end by pulling that off versus doing it from the bottom. That's where I saw the origination point at the water pump seal.

It seems like such an unusual spot for a cam Tower leak to show up. This makes more sense because of where it's coming from. It's a very slow leak. Maybe 1 qt of coolant in 20k miles. Still going to replace.

 

[yeLwWm]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0764H6K45

 

[yeLwWm]

Try Bar's Leaks Oil Seal Engine Oil Burning and Leak Repair, I have fixed my cam tower leak with this.