Low Engine Oil Pressure & Reseal Timing Cover

Cover reseal is a rip-off and not required, as for the oil light your engine was starving for oil and probably did damage.

 

welcome!

agree with tank^^^ reseal timing cover is a dealer money maker. they all weep, and it's not even enough to see on the ground.
what happened to your car is this:
the egr circuit clogged up (most do around 100k) this caused the engine to burn oil due to poor pistons and rings)
what you need to do is fill the oil to the top line, then check it every day. once your comfortable with that, space out the checking to a wee, month etc.

the idea is to know how much oil it is burning by mileage, and keeping it topped up.

and you need to get the egr cleaned

all the best!

 

You need to check your oil level and top off the oil before driving any further.

 

I have a 2011 Prius with 160,000 miles. Dealer in Folsom wants $2600 to reseal timing cover. No oil on ground under car - though it was almost a quart low when I checked (before maintenance). The dealer said it leaks onto a plate under the car, which makes no sense to me. I'm going to monitor but am worried it will be something that could cause a breakdown (getting ready for a road trip). Based on what I am seeing here, this could be a wait and watch issue (monitor oil use).

 

Take a look down the passenger-side end of the engine with a good light. That whole face is the timing chain cover. For a better view, remove the front passenger wheel, remove a few of the plastic fasteners on the plastic line at rear wall of the wheel well, flexed it back and you will see the extent of the leak (if any). $2600 is steep btw, most typical reported here is around $1700, which is still a little steep for what's involved.

 

"The dealer said it leaks onto a plate under the car, which makes no sense to me."

The 'plate' is a series of plastic covers fastened to the bottom of the car (to improve aerodynamics...). Probably what the tech is referring to. They are likely to catch oil leaks. You need to get into the habit of checking your oil OFTEN, or you will have a breakdown.

 

welcome!
just top it up and check it everyday, until your comfortable spreading out the checks into longer and longer intervals.
it is much more likely that you are burning the oil than losing it through the chain cover.

have you researched cleaning the egr circuit?

 

It is probably "seeping", not leaking. If it was leaking, you'd see mess from the oil.
You might also want to check the oil pressure switch, it's located in that area and some have
replaced it and the seep went away.

 

I would do as Mendel says and pay particular attention to the silver colored area seen between the spokes of the harmonic balancer. That's were the crankshaft seal for the timing cover is. It the oil is found there, it is a simple and much less expensive repair in that it can be done by just removing the harmonic balancer, levering out the old seal and pressing in a new one.

It tis quite common for most any engine with 100k miles to develop a leak in the front crankshaft seal.

The cause of low oil pressure is more likely a worn out or defective oil pump.

 

Or just low oil?