So Thursday afternoon after I get off work, I came home and parked in the driveway for about 10 minutes. I went inside and changed, and then though about how it's been starting to get a little cooler outside, and that I'll be needing to replace my bypassed heater core soon so I wont be stuck in the cold. So I hope in the 'ol girl and head down to the parts store and order a new heater core, and all the heater hoses that go along with it; was like $140 or something. They say they'll be in the next day; okay no problem, I wasn't going to be able to put it in on a Friday afternoon anyway. So I head back home. As I'm pulling back into the drive way at home, I just so happened to notice a generously sized puddle on the driveway of what looked like motor oil from sitting in the truck

So I hop out and look underneath, and transmission fluid is steady dripping from the bottom front of the bellhousing I KNEW I should have replaced that STUPID input shaft seal when I had the motor out for rebuild...

So anywho, Friday afternoon on my way home from work, I stopped by the same parts store, picked up my heater core and hoses, and ordered a seal...


Got up this morning and started on it. I knew it was going to be a task, but holy crap! What a major PITA!

Got the plate unbolted and got to the problem seal, and it was rock hard, lol, like ABS plastic... It was definately shot; I guess 300k miles on the seal will do that

But at the same time, when I unbolted the top plate holding the shifters in place, I found the shifter bushing had all but cracked in half and was BARELY hanging onto the shifter! I call up the local Toyota dealership, "Oh yeah we get those a lot (suprise...), I've got one in stock right now for $5 and some change". HOLD IT BUDDY, I'LL BE RIGHT THERE!!! SO, I now have a new shifter bushing in place, and it feels OH SO NICE!!! I've been wandering why it's been so difficult to get inso 3rd gear recently

So now with the new input shaft seal on the trans, that really takes care of the last major chore on the truck, asside from the heater core which STILL isn't in... maybe next weekend... lol



But anywho, I'd though I'd share my little project today sorry, no pics; my hands were pretty darn greasy through the entire project...

 

Ya they are a pain, I did mine when I rebuilt the motor.I was surprised that the dealer only wanted $12 for the seal and the parts store wanted $20, first time the dealer was cheaper for me. When you replaced the seal did you remember the paper gasket between the shaft and seal housing? I used ultra black and its been holding so far.

 

WHAT??!?!?! No pics? haha .

Sounds like a real fun time to spend your weekend.

 

Ive replaced heater cores on two 86 4Runners, and you need to remove the complete dash to get to the heater box/heater core, its not hard, its just very time consuming. The first one i did took me six hours because i hadn`t ever done it before, the second one only took me four hours because of the experiance doing the first one. Just a heads up on what your in for.

 

Have any pics? Was the shaft grooved where the seal rides?

I'm debating whether to replace mine while my engine is out. Couldn't really tell what exactly had leaked because the oil had mixed with the crud inside the bellhousing. The little I could dab a finger in felt like engine oil, so I was thinking rear engine seal.

 

WHAT!!! a 5 dollar part from a yota dealership? (sniff)... a tear... rolling down..

 

Ok, which seal??!

 

If that's directed at me, trans input seal. Let sleeping dogs lie, or replace it proactively while it's easily reached?

 

lol! Naw at bleeder. I gotcha though.

 

I think this was NOT a well thought out design. I had an '86 Ford Ranger that I had to replace the heater core...20 minutes...no joke.

 

bleeder, no pics?
common man

 

Yeah, a bleeder thread without pics just isn't right.

 

Pffft, you think a heater core is hard in the toyota, theres about 6 hours of work to pull a dash on a camaro, then another hour replacing that heater core, and another two huors putting the dash back on...
THAT is one hell of a job.

 

Either way getting at the heater core is still a royal PITA on at least 1st and 2nd Gen runners.

Nice wrenching story (iamsuperbleeder)

 

Lol, yeah I just can't wait to waste a day on the heater core replacement

As far as a paper gasket between the seal housing plate and trans, there wasn't one to begin with, just a bead if silly-cone, so that's all I did when I put it back together, was put on a nice bead of the same stuff I used on my rear dif a little while ago.


Yeah sorry about the no pics... I was in a hurry to get it done

 

This may help when you do core. This is how I do most dash out evap/core jobs.These are general steps. Each vehicle are a different treat. Remove console, just drop steering column to seat, unbolt dash carrier and pull it open like a hinge with a ratching tie down strap hooked to passenger side of dash to passenger door striker or passenger seat. Then slide yourself into the opening from the passenger side and unbolt/remove box. No need to remove dash from cab. P/S Audi A6 is 14hrs ,never again. Fun Fun

 

Funny because an 85 mustang requires dash removal as well.

 

Because after flushing it out after last winter in an attempt to make it work better (which worked GREAT by the way; the heater worked SO much better after flushing a bunch of crap out of the core), I must have flushed out some sort of "plug" in the core, cause it started leaking the following week, lol. It was pouring an antifreeze mist out of the vents inside, so I just looped the coolant hose under the hood to bypass it and stop the leak.

 

And that is why im scared to flush my heater core. My truck was run with the cheapest coolant available and never changed before I bought it!

 

wow that sucks. Must be nice to have truck heat up under a 10 minutes.