Alert to V-6 owners - possible oil leak!

[David the Viking]

I picked my VVTi oil pipe up this afternoon. I was reading a link from TN the other day about a Rav4 and they went through the wheel arch to get at the fitting on the back of the head.

Looks like I may be doing the same thing as you this weekend Daryl.

[DJKOR]

I picked my VVTi oil pipe up this afternoon. I was reading a link from TN the other day about a Rav4 and they went through the wheel arch to get at the fitting on the back of the head.

Looks like I may be doing the same thing as you this weekend Daryl.

I remember you mentioning that to me. I had a look and thought, this will be interesting to bend my arm around through there to change the pipe.

The way I see it is that if some guy at Toyota can do it, I'm sure I could. I guess this Saturday I will find out. Surely they wouldn't have to hoist the engine out right? Hopefully it won't make too much of a mess when taking the old pipe off.

[David the Viking]

A lot of cursing and swearing always helps :D

The pipe will be full of oil but I think that will be all that will drain out. Hopefully the power steering pump is not in the way because I dont think there is access over the back of the engine.

[corhijas]

just out of curiosity-is this still a problem with 09 aurions or is it confined to earlier models

I think the Aurion was only fixed a few months into 2009. The best way to tell is by looking under the bonnet for yourself.

thanks matee- will have to have a look,car was only built in may so hopefully

thanks

[DJKOR]

So I had today off and thought that instead of wasting time, I'll tackle this job.

Hopefully the power steering pump is not in the way because I dont think there is access over the back of the engine.

Well... we have a slight problem... which resulted in:

A lot of cursing and swearing

I'll let the photos explain. First was taken through a spacing in the power steering pump pulley:

The thing that really p***s me off is the fact that you can actually reach that banjo connection with ease by putting your arm through the area where the headers are. With the pump in the way though, that bolt will only drop around about 0.5 cm. There's not even enough room to fully loosen in. There is absolutely not other way around it. The pump has to get out of the way.

As well, I noticed that it's quite easy to remove the timing gear cover and then the pipe by accessing it through the wheel arch (from underneath the beam in there), but the belt seems to get in the way as well. Removing the power steering pump (and therefore clearing the belt from that area) would make this job really easy.

In that tight space, the last thing I want to remove is the drive belt just to remove the power steering pump. I think I might resort to asking Toyota how much they want to charge. There's certain things I like to work on, but I have my own limits.

Just thought I'd give you a heads up.

Edit: Looking at the service manual, the belt tensioner doesn't seem too hard to adjust. I will look at it some more. This automatic tensioner thing is different to what I'm used to.

[CHA54]

quick question... why are you guys doing this yourselves? aren't your cars still under warranty?

[DJKOR]

quick question... why are you guys doing this yourselves? aren't your cars still under warranty?

I've heard that it's only a warranty job when you get an oil leak that is caused by this part. I'm not going to wait till I get a leak before I get them to change it. For $45 plus some close and personal time with my car, I'll just do it myself.

In terms of my progress so far, I have managed to move the belt away from the power steering pump, and taken the bolts off the pump. Now I'm stuck trying to get the pump off the engine. Seems pretty well wedged in there.

[David the Viking]

Yes they are but as far as I know there is not a recall or anything for this, so to me $45 for the pipe is going to be cheap insurance because if it goes and you dont stop the engine in time a rebuild is going to be expensive and most of all very inconvenient.

[DJKOR]

Okay then. That was an epic 6 hours (2 of which was spent sitting down with a drink while I cool off from the anger). I have swapped my oil pipe over myself and can say that if you don't have small/Asian hands, changing this over yourself is going to be interesting. Good luck if anyone with an Aurion tries this.

2GR-FE VVT-i Oil Line Replacement

[tcamry2000]

quick question... why are you guys doing this yourselves? aren't your cars still under warranty?

If your car is still under warranty, I heard this procedure below works.

-Got some used engine oil from your car

-Use a small plastic tub, drop the used oil right at the rubber VVT-I Oil Hose

-Bring car to the dealer, and have them check for oil leak…