crankshaft oil seal fail

[aydontgo]

Daughter's 66 plate Aygo has suffered a crankshaft oil seal failure at only 26k miles. Despite the low mileage the dealership won't offer anything whatsoever towards the approx £800 repair cost as it is of course one year out of warranty. A plea for help direct to Toyota UK was simply forwarded to the dealer which again drew a blank. I had hoped Toyota UK might have shown some interest but they didn't even acknowledge my message. Not impressed! 

 

[Derek.w]

If its just a small leak then adding a engine oil leak sealant may buy you some extra time.

[aydontgo]

Thanks Derek but the oil leak is excessive and deemed a "major defect" on the MOT refusal due to the fire hazard if it drips on the exhaust.

[Derek.w]

Then a independant garage will charge £500+

[aydontgo]

Thanks, I'll get some quotes

[FROSTYBALLS]

Has it got a full Toyota service history? When was it last serviced and by whom? How many services has it had?

[aydontgo]

No, only serviced by Toyota during the 5 year warranty. Last serviced by competent son-in-law and this is Toyota's "get-out" but I'm sure he's more than capable of doing an oil change. 

[FROSTYBALLS]

Most manufacturers will refuse goodwill if servicing is done outside their dealer network - not just Toyota.

Aside from that, think with the introduction of the service generated Relax extended warranty Toyota probably have less reason to consider goodwill. 

Relax would probably have covered the crankshaft oil seal as engine oil seals are included within coverage.

[aydontgo]

Thanks Mike, and even under the Relax scheme I was told that it is subject to the dealer providing photographic evidence of the alleged failed part to the warranty people. Anyway it won't be going anywhere near a dealership for fixing.

[FROSTYBALLS]

7 minutes ago, aydontgo said:

even under the Relax scheme I was told that it is subject to the dealer providing photographic evidence of the alleged failed part to the warranty people.

The majority of warranty claims will need supporting evidence to back the claim whether it is new car warranty, extended warranty or Relax.

[Hybrid21]

9 hours ago, aydontgo said:

No, only serviced by Toyota during the 5 year warranty. Last serviced by competent son-in-law and this is Toyota's "get-out" but I'm sure he's more than capable of doing an oil change. 

Unfortunately Anthony definitely a get out for Toyota ☹️

[TonyHSD]

10 hours ago, aydontgo said:

Thanks Derek but the oil leak is excessive and deemed a "major defect" on the MOT refusal due to the fire hazard if it drips on the exhaust.

Is that the mot statement or the dealer description about the oil leak?
Have you see it yourself and how bad is it? Does the car loose any oil and how much? Does it really goes over the exhaust pipes? 

Sometimes oil leaks near the area are not from the crack shaft seal itself but from other gaskets like oil pan gasket which is a silicone form in place applied in factory by human mechanics or robot, depending on the engine. This silicone can age and crack or simply hasn’t been applied properly, letting some small oil drops, nothing major unless they are dripping exactly over the exhaust. There are other members here that been previously pushed for the same thing and costly repairs, even one member shared that when they said to him same as to you he answered the car is under warranty get it fixed, and they double checked and told him that no leaks found anymore and went through its test fine. 

My car once a low mileage with very little use has developed an oil leak, the car was out of warranty and I usually do service myself. 
I found this oil leak at her annual service back in 2018 with 60k miles, I used few times engine stop leak but didn’t help, however the oil leak is so small that never been noted on the mot to date and the car has traveled over 165000 miles ever since without any problems or oil leak been worsened. I am confident that unless mot failure the car will continue to work until her end with this small oil leak., many older cars has oil leaks., if not excessive , if the car doesn’t loose oil and if its not dripping directly over the exhaust you can leave it and keep monitoring. 

[aydontgo]

Hi Tony and many thanks for your input. Yes, the MOT states "Oil leaking excessively from engine Nearside (between engine and gearbox) [8.4.1 (a) (i)]". I have seen it and it is indeed quite excessive but not to the point where it needs topping up yet but it is directly over the exhaust. It is coming out of the drain slot in the joint between the engine and gearbox. The dealer has only verbally  told me the problem is the crank oil seal quoting 5 hours labour at £720 and £54.65 for the new oil seal plus the possibility of it needing a new clutch as it is likely to be contaminated. I'm gutted that in 54 years of motoring in inexpensive, high mileage second hand cars I have never experienced a major engine fault such as this on my daughter's Aygo and aside from the warranty issue Toyota don't seem at all concerned. Therefore I will entrust it to my much more friendly, sympathetic and trustworthy local independent garage Thanks again for your help.

[flash22]

12 hours ago, Derek.w said:

Then a independant garage will charge £500+

Where did you get that price

maybe if it's a rear main seal behind the flywheel, if it's a front crank seal no more than an hour's labour and £10-15 in parts

 

I would get a second opinion, and have the leaked diagnosed properly - it's rare for it to blow a seal unless it has too much crank case pressure (failed PCV being one cause)

[TonyHSD]

50 minutes ago, flash22 said:

Where did you get that price

maybe if it's a rear main seal behind the flywheel, if it's a front crank seal no more than an hour's labour and £10-15 in parts

 

I would get a second opinion, and have the leaked diagnosed properly - it's rare for it to blow a seal unless it has too much crank case pressure (failed PCV being one cause)

Any possibility if it’s a seal all that to have happened as a result of the car not been used much?
When I discovered my oil leak from the same area the car was barely used and left without any use for 4 weeks. I did check and changed the PCV as a precaution but the original one seemed fine and exactly as the new one I fitted. I am suspecting seals get into issues of cars not been used for some time. Thanks  

[aydontgo]

Just letting you know I've booked the Aygo in at my local, highly rated, non-ripoff independent garage. He couldn't believe how much RRG were going to charge. Many thanks to you all for your contributions.

[aydontgo]

Have to say I'm heartened by your support which greatly tempers my disappointment with Toyota for who my only parting comment is - when things go wrong the slogan "Go fun yourself" doesn't really mirror their response. Perhaps the middle word isn't quite the right one if you get my drift!

[Hybrid21]

I suppose Toyota need to draw the line somewhere Anthony after the five year warranty. 

[Hornet3D]

On 10/14/2022 at 8:17 AM, TonyHSD said:

Is that the mot statement or the dealer description about the oil leak?
Have you see it yourself and how bad is it? Does the car loose any oil and how much? Does it really goes over the exhaust pipes? 

Sometimes oil leaks near the area are not from the crack shaft seal itself but from other gaskets like oil pan gasket which is a silicone form in place applied in factory by human mechanics or robot, depending on the engine. This silicone can age and crack or simply hasn’t been applied properly, letting some small oil drops, nothing major unless they are dripping exactly over the exhaust. There are other members here that been previously pushed for the same thing and costly repairs, even one member shared that when they said to him same as to you he answered the car is under warranty get it fixed, and they double checked and told him that no leaks found anymore and went through its test fine. 

My car once a low mileage with very little use has developed an oil leak, the car was out of warranty and I usually do service myself. 
I found this oil leak at her annual service back in 2018 with 60k miles, I used few times engine stop leak but didn’t help, however the oil leak is so small that never been noted on the mot to date and the car has traveled over 165000 miles ever since without any problems or oil leak been worsened. I am confident that unless mot failure the car will continue to work until her end with this small oil leak., many older cars has oil leaks., if not excessive , if the car doesn’t loose oil and if its not dripping directly over the exhaust you can leave it and keep monitoring. 

Many, many years ago I took a Vauxhall Carlton in for MOT knowing that is had and expensive oil leak but hoping it would pass the MOT.    When the tester put the car up on the ramp it was gushing from underneath.    Rather than fail it he turned to me and said he could fix it for £20 rather than the £250+ a local garage had quoted.  I happily paid up and he wandered off returning a few minutes later with a new oil pressure switch.  Apparently, it was a common problem and, as the oil was escaping between the plastic part of the sensor and the sensor body, the oil was caught the air stream as the car was being driven thus spreading the oil to back of the engine.  I have always wondered just how many Carlton owners paid for an expensive engine repair when all that was needed was an oil pressure switch.

[Aygo65]

On 10/14/2022 at 3:50 PM, aydontgo said:

Just letting you know I've booked the Aygo in at my local, highly rated, non-ripoff independent garage. He couldn't believe how much RRG were going to charge. Many thanks to you all for your contributions.

Hi @aydontgo can you please summarise the final findings and solution and most importantly the costs? i am experiencing the same thing with my Aygo which is a 65 plate and has 50K miles on it

[flash22]

as above

either a bad seal, or the PCV valve has failed and over pressurizing the crank case - over filled oil maybe another cause

op hasn't been on here since Oct 2022

[TonyHSD]

19 hours ago, Aygo65 said:

Hi @aydontgo can you please summarise the final findings and solution and most importantly the costs? i am experiencing the same thing with my Aygo which is a 65 plate and has 50K miles on it

If you have a main seal failure or any gasket around it will be expensive as the engine and transmission needs to be separated to get these parts replaced. If it’s a minor leak you can keep an eye on your engine oil, keep driving like that until something bigger goes bad, like a clutch replacement or something and then you do this together to warrant the high labour cost.