Timing cover leak at 116k miles — dealer quoting $4,271 (before tax) for engine/cradle-out repair, need advice
2018 Highlander, 116,000 miles. Toyota Dealer (AutoNation)found an oil leak coming from the timing cover during a recent visit. They're saying the whole engine and cradle have to come out to get to it. Quoted $4271.20 before tax.
Got a second opinion from an indy Toyota shop and they said this is apparently a known thing on this engine going back to like 2008, usually just a slow seep and doesn't actually cause real oil loss unless it gets bad enough to reach the subframe and start eating the bushings. Their estimate to actually do it right (separate engine/trans, replace rear main seal, trans front pump seal too) was more like $5900, so idk if the dealer is just quoting a smaller job than what's actually needed.
Also FWIW we specifically had them check the transmission about a month ago after reading up on the UA80 issues on this platform, and they said it looked fine at the time.
Anyone dealt with this before? Did it actually get worse or did you just keep an eye on it? Did the dealer price balloon once they got in there? Any luck with indy shops on this repair? Trying to figure out how urgent this actually is before I drop $4-6k