Driving With an Oil Leak Will Require Some Vigilance

Dear Car Talk:

I love your advice, and now, I need some. I have a 2007 Toyota Avalon V6 with 106,000 miles in excellent condition. It runs great.

I had it in for regular maintenance, and Toyota told me the timing chain cover is leaking. They said that to repair it, they'd have to remove the engine, so I'd be better off looking for a new car.

I was told that if it runs out of oil, it will ruin the engine. That makes sense to me. But I do not see any oil leakage on the floor in the carport where I park.

I did some research, and I believe the timing chain is lubricated by the engine oil. So as long as I maintain proper engine oil level, can I keep driving it? -- Gerald

Absolutely, Gerald. As long as the leak is modest and you keep your oil level topped up, you can just keep driving. The dealer is correct that fixing this leak is a big job. It does involve removing the engine and transmission. So, it's going to cost several thousand dollars.

I think he's also correct in getting you to think twice before you fix it. Fixing it is an option, but on any car that's 16 years old, you risk spending $3,000 on a major engine repair and then having the transmission fail in six months.

So, I'd vote for watchful waiting. And the first step in watchful waiting is to find out what you're really dealing with here. That starts with measuring your oil loss. Make sure the oil is at the full level, write down your odometer reading, and then check the oil every fill-up until you're down a quart.

If you're losing a quart every 1,500 or 1,000 miles, that's a very small, very slow leak. And it suggests you can keep driving the car for a long time to come.

If you're losing a quart every 300 miles, then you'll have to either fix it or check the balance on your home equity line and start looking around at the 2023s. And by getting a handle on the rate of oil loss, you'll also know how vigilant you have to be about checking it. And you'll know when it's getting worse.

If you do opt for a new -- or newer -- car, the silver lining is that you'll be able to avail yourself of some of the wonderful safety features that have been added in the last decade, like automatic emergency braking, blind spot monitoring, lane keeping assist, and emergency "passing an ice cream shop" alerts. Good luck, Gerald.

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