4Runner - Reseal Front Timing cover

I took my 2005 4Runner 4wd Sport into the dealer for routine service recently. The vehicle has about 48000 miles on it, and I’ve had it since it was new, about 6 years now. I was surprised when my service adviser told me that it needed to have the front timing cover resealed, and that would cost $1500. He said it would have been covered under the 5 year, 60K warranty, but I was past that on the years of service. I appealed to Toyota’s national office, and they said the same thing - no warranty.

So I don’t see any oil leaking, there were and are no symptoms. I don’t really want to shell out that amount to fix something that isn’t a big deal. Any advice you all could send me would be much appreciated.

Get a 2nd opinion. If you are not leaking oil/coolant and the levels are fine, chances are this is a none issue.

If the timing chain cover is leaking…you should be seeing oil.

@MikeInNH

Agree that this sounds suspicious. However, if the water pump is inside the cover, and is leaking, you could see coolant and/or oil.

I would get a second opinion on this and carefull examine the garage floor or driveway for drips.

Thanks for the comments.

There is never any oil on the garage floor, and I haven’t noticed that it uses much oil. I have always used synthetic, and go for 7000 miles between changes. It’s rarely down more than half a quart.

If you’re not using excessive oil and you have no puddles, you do NOT need to have the cover resealed. This is one of the many scams that have taken hold recently as the economy continues to deteriorate and shops need to boost revenues.

Every time I read one of these posts, and we see more of them now than ever, my stomach ties in a knot. It appalls me reading thing slike this, and I wonder how many people have fallen for it.