Massive oil leak on 2010 Evora

[rabidh]

Hi! I've just about had my Evora 2010 NA 2 months now, and recently I noticed a slight oily smell for a week which I couldn't place - I'd had the bumper off recently to replace the reversing camera and I figured it might have been from some grease I put on rusty fixings I'd found.

Had to take a trip for a few days and I noticed some white smoke as i got to the train station, then when I went back to the car park 2 days later there was a big puddle of oil under the car. I got some oil, topped it up, limped home, and found oil basically pouring from the undertray when I pulled up. Took the tray off and found this:

 

So oil is squiring from what looks like a 1mm hole in the rubber hose!

A friend spotted that it seems to be a known problem on the 2GR-FE's VVTi hose, and there seems to be a fully metal replacement pipe. It looks like there's a recall on the Evora S, but I can't find anything on the normal Evora.

Given the exhaust positioning it feels like if I'd been thrashing the car this really easily could have been a fireball - and there's at least one Pistonheads thread where it has been.

So I had a few questions....

• Is there a (non-S) Evora recall? And does that mean it'd be a free of charge fix? My car isn't in great condition but it did have full Lotus service history, and the car was actually owned by lotus during the period that the recall was issued, so it feels like this should have been sorted - especially as it went into Lotus Silverstone for a clutch replacement less that 6 months ago.
• Is this definitely the VVT pipe? the strange pulsing (once a second?) makes me think it might be, but there's another rubber hose in the same region too...
• And how hard is this to fix myself? I'm reasonably adept at fixing stuff, and honestly if it's not a nightmare clam off job I feel like I'd be better off doing it myself than fighting Lotus and then trying to get it on a low loader to the nearest Lotus service centre.

thanks!

- Gordon

[Hangar 111]

That's not VVT pipe, it is one of the oil cooler pipes, so you're on your own with that.  Be thankful it hasn't failed in spectacular fashion and cost you an engine.  It goes over to a union at the RH sill, so not too hard to DIY, depending on how familiar you are with a spanner.

Dave

[rabidh]

Great, thanks! that's really good news in terms of DIYing it - I wasn't looking forward to trying to get around the side of the engine.

Any idea why it would have been pulsing like that! Does the engine somehow pulse the oil to the cooler while it's warming up?

[agentdr8]

This set of rubber hoses was replaced (under TSB) on other Toyota 2GR-FE vehicles because of this very problem. Their solution was to remove all the rubber hose components and replace them with solid metal ones. 

I actually bought the necessary parts to accomplish this, but never got around to doing it on mine, since the oil has to be drained first, and it's much easier to access this area from the rear seat access hole. 

I've attached the Toyota TSB for reference. I had also created a thread about these potential Toyota TSBs and how applicable they would be to our 2GR-FE-driven cars: https://www.lotustalk.com/threads/2gr-fe-tsbs-and-other-part-updates.435937/

If you want to replace those rubber hoses with the solid metal ones, the part you're after is Toyota 15767-31020, which is the metal pipe and flanges, or the kit 04004-29131, which should include the 2 gaskets. 

 

2GR-FE_oil_cooler_pipe_T-CP-ZE2-0001-D.pdf

[LOTUSMAN33]

Thanks Dave, very useful information and time to visit my Toyota dealer having them ready for the next service to install.👍🏻👍🏻

Dave  

[rabidh]

Thanks Dave, that's great. I'll get those bits ordered. Nice to see a photo of the new part on that thread as well.

There seem to be a few videos around - this one gives a really clear view: 

I'm sure it's more cramped on the Evora, but it doesn't look like a big deal at all.

> never got around to doing it on mine, since the oil has to be drained first

Conveniently, my car has already done that for me!

 

[rabidh]

Parts ordered - pipe, gaskets, filter and new oil came to £200ish

Should get it on Friday so we'll see how much of a nightmare it is at the weekend

[Hangar 111]

I've not looked at the Toyota service bulletin, but the oil cooler hoses are flexible for a reason - they go between engine and chassis, which move relative to each other.

From what I can see on the videos, that setup is different to the Lotus, that looks like a heat exchanger setup, whereas the Lotus have an air oil cooler at the front of the vehicle.   I'd double-check what you've got, with what you've ordered there...

I have never personally seen one fail on a Lotus (as yet).

Dave

[agentdr8]

2 hours ago, Hangar 111 said:

I've not looked at the Toyota service bulletin, but the oil cooler hoses are flexible for a reason - they go between engine and chassis, which move relative to each other.

From what I can see on the videos, that setup is different to the Lotus, that looks like a heat exchanger setup, whereas the Lotus have an air oil cooler at the front of the vehicle.   I'd double-check what you've got, with what you've ordered there...

I have never personally seen one fail on a Lotus (as yet).

Dave

Apparently later in the model years, Lotus used the all-metal oil cooler feed/return pipes. In the thread I had started on LT, Julian had posted a picture of his 12S heat exchanger housing with the metal pipes. 

The oil lines that head towards the front of the car should remain flexible (#7 and #8 below), and I believe those are the ones that were covered under a Lotus recall. I believe those are also only present on S cars. 

[Julian73]

The NA cars do not use the air-oil heat exchangers mounted at front of car, but rather a water-oil exchanger from teh RAV4 mounted in place of Item #21A, so all those hose lines #7, 8 etc don't exist. The twin hose assembly (refer to "See 46.03") is what changed from two rubber hoses (OP's leak source)  to two metal pipes on later years. These do not need flexibility as both ends are engine block mounted.

[rabidh]

Hi! I realised I forgot to update this. I replaced the pipe. All in all it was a pretty quick job (I already had the rear seats out).

• Remove the rear seats
• Remove the access panel - it's in just the right place to make this easy

• You can just about see the pipe in the bottom right of this picture. There are 2 studs and one bolt in each end. I undid the nuts/bolts with a combination of sockets and extensions
• Then you can't get the pipe off because of the angles. You could cut the pipe but then you can't get the new one on. Instead I just used a torx socket to undo the two studs in the top part of the pipe (it seemed easier to get to) and the pipe comes off easily
• On mine, Lotus routed a cable through the middle of the 2 pipes, so I cut one of the rubber pipes anyway rather than touching the cable
• Clean the paint from the old gasket off the engine
• Re-add the new pipe and gaskets
• Replace the 2 studs, do everything up, cable-tie the wire (that had gone between the 2 oil pipes) up and you're good.

 

[Hangar 111]

Good work.  I've never seen (or perhaps noticed) rubber versions of these pipes, so apologies for my wrong steer.

Glad you got it sorted.

Dave

[2011 Chrome Orange]

Thanks Gordon for the follow-up post and particularly the photos!

I too have the rubber version on my '11 S. But it looks like I'll have to disconnect the oil feed and return lines to the sandwich plate to be able to access the fasteners for the oil cooler feed/return pipes.

 

[Nelly]

@rabidh - can I ask where you got the parts from please?

I am looking to do this on my 2010 Evora and can't find any UK source for the parts, all my search results are US based.  I am not sure any other cars n the UK use this engine (maybe a Lexus model might, but certainly no Toyota's), so probably not surprising I am drawing a blank.

 

[rabidh]

Shame it's more of a pain to get to on the S  I guess there's just more stuff crammed in there.

I just phoned up my local Toyota dealer - they didn't have the parts in stock but they got them in (I think?) 3 days. They did ask about the car but in the end were fine just knowing it was a 2GR-FE.

They weren't able to find the kit (04004-29131) but the part number 15767-31020 worked fine - and from there they could add the two gaskets needed. The pipe + gaskets + oil filter + sump plug gasket + oil came to £200ish if I recall.

[LOTUSMAN33]

Brilliant thanks Gordon, I will order mine up as well, like Neil prevention is always better than cure so worth doing.👍🏻👍🏻
My service isn’t due until December so I will hold until then as oil just been changed.

Dave  

 

[Nelly]

Cheers Gordon - most helpful.  My service is due in the summer, depending on what happens over the next couple of months.

My local Toyota dealer happens to have a Lotus dealership (Snow's Hedge End) so that may also help.

 

[Nelly]

Picked up my parts today - ordered Monday, were in the dealer on Thursday.  The pipe and both gaskets were £135.40 including the VAT.

Car is being serviced in a couple of weeks, will be interesting to see the condition of the old pipe - I will post a photo of it with a condition reports once its been replaced if anyone would like to see it?

[TdM]

On 09/03/2020 at 15:38, agentdr8 said:

Apparently later in the model years, Lotus used the all-metal oil cooler feed/return pipes. In the thread I had started on LT, Julian had posted a picture of his 12S heat exchanger housing with the metal pipes. 

The oil lines that head towards the front of the car should remain flexible (#7 and #8 below), and I believe those are the ones that were covered under a Lotus recall. I believe those are also only present on S cars. 

 

Was this a MY12 update do we know? Would be good to get the year it was changed.

[agentdr8]

I only see A132E6085H in the parts diagram for both the NA and S, and it doesn't appear to have been preceded by a different variant. Could be that the early engines that Lotus got from Toyota had the original rubber hose version, and the later engines had the all-metal hoses. 

I'm assuming if you were to order that part from Lotus today, you'd get the all-metal one, as the parts diagram doesn't list the clamps and rubber hose pieces as separate part #s, like it does in other areas. 

[Nelly]

No idea on any MY update, but given my car is the same age and variant as the original poster, and with the service due it was a no brainer for me to do this.

If by chance my car does have the metal hose already in place I will report back and make the parts available for sale.

 

[Nelly]

OK, here is an update on my situation which I hope is helpful for anyone else who comes across this thread.

My 2010 NA (same as the original poster) had the old hose taken off yesterday - it was indeed the rubber version.  The garage doing the work (Purbeck Sports Cars) have confirmed to me today that the rubber had gone hard, and would eventually perish so he thought it was an upgrade well worth doing.  They had never come across this issue before, but with it only now affecting the older cars its probably not surprising.

As mentioned on earlier posts it has to be done through the access hatch behind the rear seat on the driver side (on RH drive cars),.  The initial fitting of the new hose did have a slight weep, likely down to the fact the new hose is rigid whereas the old was flexible being rubber so its having to be re-done with some sealant on the gaskets - something to be aware of if you are doing the work yourself.

If anyone has a 10/11 year old car I would definitely suggest thinking about doing this, as mentioned earlier in the thread Toyota have identified this on their cars  but for whatever reason it doesn't seem to have entered the Lotus domain.  I am very grateful to Gordon @rabidh for highlighting the issue, I am planning to keep my car long term so its likely I would have had the same problem.

 

[EGTE]

Thanks for this, may well do it at next service.

[cdco]

Looks like another job on my winter to do list.