I was under the 4Runner yesterday greasing all of the fittings and doing a tire rotation. I noticed a pretty good amount of oil down the side and under the bottom of the transfer case. I did not have time to degrease everything in order to pinpont the leak. I tried searching to see if others have experienced a similar issue but did not find anything concrete.

Has anyone noticed a simlar leak? It certainly feels and smells like gear oil. Truck is a 2001 SR5, 4WD, auto, 3.4 V6, with 97,000 miles. No other leaks, no other problems, no other complaints! I'll try to get a few pics of the area in question.

Andreas

 

b t t

 

on my 89 my t-case was leaking and it just ended up being a gasket, not really a big problem as long as you have the tools to fix it(i dont)

at this point its a great idea to flush out all of your fluids (axles, tranny, motor, and t-case of course)

and if your runners a manual a clutch is VERY easy to install at this point
and lucky you, no foolish torsion bars so thats half the battle already faught

 

I had the same issue with my t-case on my 00 SR5. I bought it used with 75k and it started leaking almost as soon I brought it home (who knows it might have been leaking when I bought it but I was excited and overlooked it.) I took it to several tranny shops to have it inspected. Both of the shops I took it to said it was probably a gasket around the top plate (where the gear selector meets the t-case) and they would have to drop the t-case to get to it. Cost $260. I also took it to the Toyota dealership. Same diagonis but recommended all new seals instead of just top plate gasket. I decided to go with the dealership. They put in all new seals (5) and split the t-case and re-sealed the case halves too. What ever, not what I wanted to do but what the heck. If I fixed the top plate gasket and it had a slow leak from somewhere else I would have been pissed. It cost $486 and I got a free rental car. Sealed up perfect with peace of mind. This is prob. worst case. If you can drop the transfer case yourself all the gaskets to re-seal the thing were about $70.

Good Luck

Matt

 

Thanks for the replies. I have a shop manual and will give it a good look this weekend to see what gaskets are involved. If I knew it was just a top gasket, I'd drop that thing in no time and fix it.

The leak is not severe, but it's definately something I will keep an eye on.

Andreas

 

I had this problem, and it was the input shaft seal. $10 dealer part and I did the R&R myself. The hardest part was breaking loose the nut holding the input shaft flange because you have to come up with a way to hold the flange tight in order to break it free (with a breaker bar of course). I fabricated a little steel piece that worked perfect. I then basically destroyed the old seal trying to get it out (you'll see). The new one fit perfect. I tightened everything back up in reverse order, put the shaft back on, and observed. No leaks.

As with any rotational shaft assembly R&R, be sure to mark where the shaft met the flange and install to the same position.

To verify this is the problem, pull that little skid plate Toyota put at the bottom of the T-case and wipe the oil away. See where it comes from as a couple days go by.

The dealer wanted $120 to replace this seal. FYI.

 

After I replaced my engine & tranny the rear tranny seal was leaking. I replaced it twice now, and it still leaks. First I did it myself, then I got a shop to do it. It is quite hard to get the transfercase lined up with the ouput shaft on the transmission as the spline end and the seal are about an inch apart. It is only a couple of drips a day, and I overfilled the first time. I never added any oil yet, but the transfercase and even the rear diff are oily. Keeps the rust of the frame, and bolts down there from seizing I figure.

 

This happened to me as well. Only mine decided to start leaking on the 2nd day of the Rubicon...