so I just had my new Marlin Crawler clutch installed last week at a reputable local shop. The clutch itself seems to feel good and to be installed correctly. But today i was under my truck (97 Tacoma v6, 5-speed, 4x4) and I notice some fluid leaking. I am pretty sure that it is gear oil which is in both my transmission and my transfer case, which were both removed for the clutch install. I'm not exactly sure where it is coming from but it seems like maybe from the seam where the t-case and transmission meet. Is there as seal there or something? I thought both the t-case and tranny were sealed separately but anyways I was wondering id anyone had any thoughts on the matter. Is there anything the mechanic may have missed that could cause this. Maybe something was overtightened, Im just not sure... let me know what yall think...

 

trans and tcase wouldn't have to be seperated for a clutch install, so I am thinking it doesn't have anything to do with the clutch. It is possible the gasket between the case and trans is leaking, which means the case seal is leaking.

Are you sure its not overflow from filling the trans/case with gear oil?

 

Try cleaning it up with some brakeclean and see if it returns. Did they drain the Tranny/Tcase when they installed the clutch. Might be some spillage from the refill???

 

Im not sure if they drained either one but I do remember going in to check on it and they had separated the t-case and the transmission.. not really sure why? So if they had in fact separated the two would fluid have came out or are the able to be taken apart without draining the fluid? Would a gasket need to be replaced? Im going to stop by and ask them I think. Tonight I will check the level and clean it up to diagnose how much is coming out and where it could be coming from. Im hoping it is just some spilling because i do know that gear oil stick around for quite a while if you spill it.

 

I don't know why they would have seperated it. Don't need to just to change the clutch. There may have been some oil gathered in between the tranny and tcase. There usually is. If they didn't clean it up after putting it together it would look like a leak. Who knows?

 

Hmmm that sounds like it could be likely. I went back there today and talked to the mechanic and he said they took it apart just to make the transmission a little easier to handle when they took it off. He seemed to thing where the shaft goes into the t-case from the transmission there could be a seal that could be leaking and that it really is the only one that could be leaking. My theory is that it might have been damaged when it was put back together or broke when I tried the 4wheel drive out after I got it back. Any chance of that you think?

 

Who knows? Like I said earlier clean it up really well with some brake cleaner. Well enough so that you can't see any more oil. If it comes back, you've got a leak.