AKennedy87

My rear diff is leaking and feels as if it is seperated a little bit, more than the top atleast. I believe i hit a rock pretty solid the other day and it may have caused this. What is the easiest way to correct this leak?

superjoe83

what do you mean by "separated" is the 3rd member coming loose from the housing? where is it leaking at, Pinion seal? axle seal? 3rd member to housing? and what year is your truck or 4runner, i would really like to help you but i need a little more info

AKennedy87

I believe it is the 3rd member to housing. I have an 87 4runner and where the cone like thing attaches to the "pumpkin" as some people call it, it is slightly speperated. On the top it is tight and on the bottom it is about 1mm wide. It just started leaking after i deffinetly scraped it on a rock. Thanks for your help.
Alex

grafix43

eh the little gap there is nothing my rear diff looks exactly the same, top is tight bottom tiny gap.... im guessing just by coincidence u hit that the rock, the pinion seal went bad and is leaking... cause i went offroading and the next day my pinion seal was bad, had nothing to do with offroading just happened.... anyways that part is cheap and easy to fix. how much does it leak, just llike slowly drip out?

AKennedy87

yea it just slowly leaks out, but there is a inch by inch scratch on the bottom, yesterday i drained all the oil and it filled about 2 qts, which means about .3 quart leaked out in 3 or 4 days. After that i loostened the bottom 4 botls and put a lot of silicone sealant in there and tightened it up real tight, than filled it all back up, and 18 hours later there is no leaks... So how hard is it to fix the whole pinion seal and how much does it cost? maybe if it keeps on leaking ill have to do that.
Thanks, Alex

AKennedy87

Ok so its deffinetly not the pinion seal, it is leaking from the widest part of the housing, where it attaches to the axle, and yes it is still leaking after trying to seal it. I'll try to get some pictures of it on so you get a better idea but if anyone else knows, what else may this be?

superjoe83

were the bolts tight? if they weren't you should pull the axles and remove the 3rd member, get all of the old gasket off and re seal it, i think that Toyota makes a gasket for that, if not, use a high quality RTV silicone, if the bolts were tight, then you may have more problems like a cracked housing or 3rd member