Oil leak behind timing belt pulley

[svtrit]

2000 Camry 2.2L

I changed the belt, water pump, seals, and oil pump gasket 1000 miles ago. Now I have a leak coming from behind the tensioner pulley. Is there a seal back there? You can see the faint oil trail below the pulley.
I want to be sure going through the hassle of removing that is worthwhile vs. training my son to make sure he tops off every 1000 miles or so, as he lives 3 hours away, and car maintenance isn’t top of mind while in pharmacy school.

It was down half a quart since doing the job and forms a leak from there at higher RPMs.
thanks.

 

[c502cid]

I don't know the answer to your question but I'd double check the leak isn't coming from somewhere higher up and finding it's way down to that area.

 

[zzyzzx]

Is something like ATP-205 an option here? I'm otherwise wondering if maybe you should just change out every oil related gasket on this vehicle (except HG) just due to age. Yes, I maintain one of these (same year and engine). The gaskets on these cars like to get brittle and crack.

 

[svtrit]

That’s what gets me, I did all the seals when I did the timing belt. I’m guessing I didn’t get the cam seal seated right. Maybe I’ll try that ATP-205 and make sure my son watches oil consumption.

 

[paulo57509]

I'm only familiar with the 3S engine that was in my '87 Camry; I think the 5S uses a similar oil pump.

I don't know if this is the issue, but IIRC, there's some kind of a seal in the pump for idler pulley bolt. I don't recall if the pulley bolt is exposed to engine oil.

 

[Kurtatron]

did you apply grease to the cam seal when you installed it? Was there any ridge where the old seal was?

 

[svtrit]

did you apply grease to the cam seal when you installed it? Was there any ridge where the old seal was?

I wish I could recall. I was really frustrated by the end of the job. I suspect that has something to do with the leak

The oil pump seal is terrible to instal!

 

[Number_35]

did you apply grease to the cam seal when you installed it? Was there any ridge where the old seal was?

I failed to do that on cam seals - once. There was a terrible screech shortly after I started the engine.

Got to do it all over. Lesson learned!

 

[supton]

I just did my my 5S-FE. I remember it being a pain to do that oil pump o ring years ago—and when I went to do it again, I found I had not done it right back then! not properly in the groove.

This time I dabbled wheel bearing grease into several spots to hold it. Seems to be fine, this time, no slow leak now.

 

[zzyzzx]

I just did my my 5S-FE. I remember it being a pain to do that oil pump o ring years ago—and when I went to do it again, I found I had not done it right back then! not properly in the groove.

This time I dabbled wheel bearing grease into several spots to hold it. Seems to be fine, this time, no slow leak now.

I used RTV to hold that spaghetti gasket in place for the install. If I had to do it again, I would have also found a way to get the gasket back into it's installed form with something ahead of time, because in shipping and storage it gets out of shape.