I am looking at a Toyota Tundra SR5 2005, with a potential rear engine seal leak. I am curious if you can access the seal without pulling the engine out. I am also wondering if this is a typical problem and what the labor would look like for the fix. The vehicle has 90,000 miles on it and is in excellent shape otherwise. The asking price is $7000....what do you think?

 

You can most likely access it from just removing the transmission. Fixing it, on the other hand, may be another story. 90K seems a little young for that kind of problem but it could depend heavily on where/how it was driven. For $7000, you can find a perfectly running 4x4 ´Yota. I suggest that route instead.

 

The leak might be coming from higher up on the engine, examine it carefully. Might be an easier fix.

90,000 is very low mileage for rear main seal problems.

 

Valve cover oil leak? I had that problem and i thought it was the rear main seal leaking, after some diagnosing i found out it was my valve cover leaking oil from the rear of the engine, easy fix.

 

Good call; this IS quite common. Gravity makes every leak look like the rear main.

Why do the valve covers leak? You have to follow the manual's instructions on the spots to put RTV. With RTV, you have to have the surface VERY clean, or the RTV won't stick, and (for me, at least) it will leak.

You might be able to tell by wedging your hand between the back of the block and the firewall. Is it oily?