Hello all. I am about to buy a 93 4runner with 146k on it. This body of the truck is in pretty decent shape, considering. There is only small amounts of rust on the driver side rear wheel well and and bubbling on the opposite side. I've never owned a Toyota and have been reading here for about a month to gain as much knowledge as I can.

Sorry for rambling, on to my question...

Said 4runner has a rear main seal leak. Apparently, the owner had the head gasket repaired at an indy shop and they they were putting everything back together the seal got pinched and it is now leaking. I'm wondering how big of an issue this really is? I will be using this truck as a winter vehicle. I will eventually get it fixed, but am not looking to spend 2k on the truck and another $900 to fix this problem. Is this something I could just keep adding oil to over the winter and be "safe" and get it repaired in the spring/summer? Any other "typical" issues I should be looking for or aware of?

Any input is appreciated! Thanks!

 

not sure how a rear main can be "pinched" but anyway. not that big of a deal. you could try the mechanic in a can at first but not a tough job at all to replace the seal just time consuming. drop tranny, pull flywheel pull old seal grease new seal and tap into place. then put it all back together. only like a afternoon for a novice and a couple of his buddies with strong backs to help drop the tranny/tcase. are you sure it is just the rear main that is leaking and not the backs of the valve covers, etc...?

 

Low ball them considering the rear main is leaking and is it such an expensive fix....

 

I'm pretty sure it's the rear main, because the owner had it looked at. He got a quote from a Yota dealer @ $942 changing the seal and also another seal that has to do with the 4x4? This isn't something that I'd be able to do myself. I don't have anywhere to do it here in Chicago, plus I wouldn't have any idea what I was doing.

 

1st. how do you pinch a rear main seal doing a head gasket!?

2nd. if it is the rear main and leaking bad enough. your clutch will get soaked...if its a manual tranny?