I have had this oil leak since I bought the car in 2013 and it at least two different cases I thought it was the oil pan gasket (which I replaced twice) or the oil filter housing and kept ignoring it. After soaking the bottom of the engine with degreaser and power washing all the nastiness away, I confirmed my suspicion that the leak comes from the bottom of the timing cover.
Reading section 12.65.01 on the powertrain manual it looks like a monster of a job to get that cover off to replace the gaskets and seal! Is that true? Is it really worth it? I guess if I suspected the chains, guides or tensioner as being faulty it would be worth it but for an oil leak?

Love to hear opinions.....

 

Hi Lagonia,
There is a YT channel called Jag Man Down Under. (He's from Australia).
He recently bought an X350 XJR, and had a timing cover leak repaired. This video is not comprehensive, but the mechanic does explain about what was needed to do the job.


Pete M (down under in New Zealand)

 

even the aston guys don’t fix these
do not attempt.

adopt a puppy, go take your family golfing, do literally anything if you’re that bored

 

It's a nasty job. All the bits in front need to come off: pulleys, belt idlers. I can't recall if the valve covers need to come off, but they might (and so the supercharger might need to come off). The one design issue that makes the job just brutal is the fact that the brackets supporting the power steering pump and the A/C compressor have bolts that thread through the timing cover. And you cannot remove these bolts without removing the power steering pump and the A/C compressor.

When you have all that stuff removed... then you have the crank pulley which requires a special locking tool (or at least some way to hold it still as you loose the crank bolt) and is on with an incredible about of torque. I needed a six foot extension on my breaker bar before my crank pulley started to free up (though I will note I'm not very strong).

 

Just reading the manual on the steps required to get to it I knew this exercise would be DOA for the sake of just repairing the leak. I wanted to confirm to make sure I was not missing anything. May be when I retire in a few years and have time to kill I might attempt it. While am at it I would replace the chains, tensioners, valley hose and other bits whether they need to be replaced or not.

 

If the leak is not a big one, I would advise you not to waste your time on it. You have to remove the valve covers, because the timing cover is partially covered by them, otherwise, after installing the timing cover, it will have a leak from under the valve covers, a little quadrature of the circle.
It is optimal to take care of this when replacing the radiator / knock on wood /, then there is more space. Once you have the top removed, you know: new cover gaskets, spark plug gaskets, valve clearance inspection, valve seals. Once you have the bottom removed, you know: the roller, the tensioner, the water pump, the cover gaskets plus a few little things that you will find in the EPC for this area, not to mention the timing chain etc. Generally, it's worth doing it all at once when errors related to false air in the intake manifold pop up. As you can see, a drop of oil makes a space mission, good luck