Nissan X-Trail - Nissan X-Trail 2017/Timing belt cover leak

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Mon 15 Mar 2021 16:26
Nissan X-Trail - Nissan X-Trail 2017/Timing belt cover leak - Kanny

Hi all,

Not much of a car expert so looking for some advice here. I bought an used X-Trail from Nissan dealership in May 2018, under an year old and had done 10k miles. Almost an year after owning the vehicle, i noticed oil on the driveway so called up service centre. They were prompt and replaced the timing belt cover under warranty in 2019 when they found the source after inspection. 2020 COVID happened so vehicle wasn't serviced but this year 2021, it went back to Nissan dealership for MOT and service and guess what, the same leak has happened again. I have been quoted ~1000 gbp for works to replace the cover and reseal.

Does timing chain cover break so often? I drive my vehicle in/around the city. No off-road or country lanes. It has done 28k miles till date so 18k since i bought it.

Sounds to me this has been faulty since day 1 and wasn't repaired properly but vehicle is out of warranty now. Do you think i should pay for repair work? i have logged a case with Nissan but they haven't come back to me yet and my vehicle is still at dealership.

Cheers

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Mon 15 Mar 2021 17:29
Nissan X-Trail - Nissan X-Trail 2017/Timing belt cover leak - mcb100
Just to clarify - you’ve called it both a timing chain and a timing belt. Which is it?
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Mon 15 Mar 2021 17:49
Nissan X-Trail - Nissan X-Trail 2017/Timing belt cover leak - bathtub tom

If it's a timing belt cover, it probably won't need to hold back oil (unless it's one of these 'belt-in-oil engines').

It will presumably be a leaking oil seal. Having seen how some mechanics (I use the lerm loosely) change them it comes as no surprise it should fail prematurely.

I'd ask an independant garage for a quote, rather than a main dealer.

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Mon 15 Mar 2021 19:20
Nissan X-Trail - Nissan X-Trail 2017/Timing belt cover leak - Kanny

Thanks. When i asked the receptionist, she mentioned it is actually the seal and blamed it on the quality supplied by Nissan. When i said 1000 seems a bit excessive to reseal, she mentioned its the the cost of effort involved and not the spare part.

Lets see what Nissan comes back with Dealer has sent my vehicle back stating its not an urgent repair and vehicle is safe to drive

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Tue 16 Mar 2021 11:32
Nissan X-Trail - Nissan X-Trail 2017/Timing belt cover leak - daveyjp

No doubt the part will be a few quid, but removing the cover may not be straightforwards.

With main dealer labour charges at £100+ an hour plus VAT it doesn't take long for a bill to get to £1,000.

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Mon 15 Mar 2021 19:18
Nissan X-Trail - Nissan X-Trail 2017/Timing belt cover leak - Kanny

It is timing chain cover they mentioned and that's the one dripping oil

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Tue 16 Mar 2021 14:29
Nissan X-Trail - Nissan X-Trail 2017/Timing belt cover leak - John F

Surely if you discovered and presented the fault within the warranty period it should have been satisfactorily repaired. If its a timing chain, it would be covered in oil anyway so it wouldn't matter if a shaft seal was leaky. Did they make a wrong diagnosis when you first presented the problem? Or has a new and different oil leak developed? In any case, there shouldn't be any leaks at all at this young age and mileage.

Edited by John F on 16/03/2021 at 14:37

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Mon 7 Jun 2021 18:30
Nissan X-Trail - Nissan X-Trail 2017/Timing belt cover leak - Whytecliffe

Joining the thread and after some advice on what sounds a similar issue.

We have a 2017 Diesel X-Trail that recently developed an oil leak. The car has been regularly serviced through a Nissan dealer and we have not driven excessively (circa 28k miles on the clock). On diagnosis by the Nissan garage we were told that we had an oil leak from the Timing Case Cover and we require a new cover and a crankshaft oil seal.

The work was done to great expense, and lo and behold, like other posters in this thread, straight away on return of the vehicle, it is still leaking.

It has gone back today for diagnosis but it sounds like the dealership are suggesting this is a new leak. They are cleaning up first to establish this and then want this driven to see if they can identify where this is coming from.

Interestingly enough, on the Invoice, despite it saying above that we require a crankshaft oil seal, it says that we require a camshaft oil seal. Are these different and would this be why we still have a leak (i.e. they have carried out the incorrect work).

On the invoice it says they have replaced the Rocker Cover Gasket (presume this is the Timing Case Cover?) and have sealed the oil cranks.

My concerns are, for a car of this age, why would we get more than oil leak. I can understand one thing going but it would seem extremely coincidental to have two leaks in similar places at the same time, and why would this not have picked up when they were carrying out the first piece of work. If this genuinely is a new leak, then surely is this as a result of something they have done.

How do I challenge this with them (although to be fair, they haven't said that they aren't going to rectify it for cost yet, they are going to potentially diagnose tomorrow. I am however wanting to get my case built in the event they suggest this is a new leak which requires the same level of work again.

This cam and crankshaft ambiguity sounds like it is an issue but if they have sealed the oil cranks would both be done anyway?

Thanks in advance for advice

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Mon 7 Jun 2021 20:17
Nissan X-Trail - Nissan X-Trail 2017/Timing belt cover leak - Oli rag
The crank seal is at the bottom of the engine and the camshaft oil seal the top. It sounds like they did the cam seal as you have to remove the rocker cover, so it makes sense that it had a new gasket also.

There’s a chance you had 2 separate leaks and unfortunately you still need the other fixing. There are products called something like Stop leak which is an oil additive and these cause oil seals to swell and can stop some leaks. Not sure of long term success, but may stop it long enough to flog the car.
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Wed 9 Jun 2021 04:01
Nissan X-Trail - Nissan X-Trail 2017/Timing belt cover leak - edlithgow

First case, at least, sounds like the job was not done properly.

I'd think they should eat the cost of doing it again, but I have no experience of this kind of negotiation, and don't much want any.

If (as eventually will be the case if not now) you end up not being covered under warranty for this kind of thing, you have 3 options

(a) Pay someone to fix it. This should probably not be a main dealer

(b) Fix it yourself

(c) Don't fix it.

The third option is probably a viable option for this leak as described, since it probably isn't doing any harm. Some kind of "sanitary towel" improvisation might limit any embarrassment.

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Tue 21 Jun 2022 16:29
Nissan X-Trail - Nissan X-Trail 2017/Timing belt cover leak - CIARAN OREILLY

Hi. Joining the thread as this has apparently happened to my wifes 66 plate XTRAIL which has done below 40k and ive just been hit with a bill of £1100.

does anyone know what causes this issue as all this began after a warning light appeared intermittently on the dash " lower engine oil pressure. stop the car"

the car was driving and sounding fine and the light come on only when in low revs/decelerating. and would immediately go off when the accelerator pedal was pressed.

any views or insight welcome

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Fri 24 Jun 2022 23:19
Nissan X-Trail - Nissan X-Trail 2017/Timing belt cover leak - edlithgow

Hi. Joining the thread as this has apparently happened to my wifes 66 plate XTRAIL which has done below 40k and ive just been hit with a bill of £1100.

does anyone know what causes this issue as all this began after a warning light appeared intermittently on the dash " lower engine oil pressure. stop the car"

the car was driving and sounding fine and the light come on only when in low revs/decelerating. and would immediately go off when the accelerator pedal was pressed.

any views or insight welcome

Only likely connection I can see between this leak as reported (I've never had an X-Trail but would quite like an old one) and low oil pressure would be if the leak had caused a significantly low level of oil.

This could be because (a) its a severe leak, or (b) its a slow leak but you havn't been checking the oil level and topping up to compensate.

If the former you'll have to get it fixed. If the latter you could probably train yourself to live with it and save yourself a grand, the price of vigilance (minus whatever the top-up costs. Oil is cheap.)

Once the oil pump is required to pump air oil pressure drops and wear will rise quickly.

Impossible to be certain no significant damage was done during the low pressure episodes, but if no unpleasant engine noises (e.g. rod knock) probably not. You could get some clues from oil analysis but you probably dont want to know that much.

There are of course other, unconnected causes of low oil pressure, the most obvious being a failing oil pump, but hopefully they arent in play here

Edited by edlithgow on 24/06/2022 at 23:22

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Mon 10 Apr 2023 13:00
Nissan X-Trail - Nissan X-Trail 2017/Timing belt cover leak - Mark Corn

Hi Folks. Just following on from this thread. My 2020 X Trail Tekna petrol automatic was recently serviced by my main Nissan dealer. They've flagged a leaking timing case. From their very quick and short video, I was unable to ascertain if there was indeed a leak. The cost for the repair was just shy of £1300!! I told them I'd think about it. Then came the hard sell, suggesting driving could be detrimental to the timing chain and engine which would be even more astronomical to fix! Having got home, I was able to see a very minor leak but have never seen spots of oil on my driveway.
A couple of questions please:
Would a small oil leak be visible on the ground?
Does the engine and timing chain share the same oil?
What are your thoughts on a product called Engine Stop Oil? Apparently, these products are rather good and I'm tempted to try using it.

Your advice and help would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

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Mon 10 Apr 2023 13:57
Nissan X-Trail - Nissan X-Trail 2017/Timing belt cover leak - Adampr

I presume you mean something called Engine Stop Leak. It will probably deal with the leak for some time, but it won't fix the problem permanently. If you keep using it, you'll eventually end up with an engine full of gunk. To answer your questions;

1. Whether a small leak would be visible on the ground would depend somewhat on where it was. Anything major would leave a puddle on the ground or possibly a burning oil smell.

2. Yes

Personally, I would start by checking oil level at least weekly for a few months and see how big a concern the leak might be.

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Mon 10 Apr 2023 14:24
Nissan X-Trail - Nissan X-Trail 2017/Timing belt cover leak - Crickleymal

Yes the timing chain and engine share the same oil. No a small leak won't have any effect on the chain or the engine unless you let the oil get too low.

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