What are these oil lines?

Hey all, new to the forum but have had my truck since new. Today I noticed an apparent leak of some sort inside the left front wheel. After crawling under it and looking under the hood it looks like the leak may be from one or both of these two small lines. Can someone tell me what they are and how difficult to replace?

Thanks.

 

Those are breathers if I'm looking at what your looking at? The two with a silver cap on the ends? Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Any ways, if I'm correct, don't see why anything should be coming out of them? Maybe over heating of one or both? Shouldn't have to replace. I just did the the breather extension mod for the rear on mine. Even though you don't see the breather I sure got a pretty one...http://www.northeastxt.com/vent.html.

 

They're the breather lines for your transfer case and front differential. I'm no expert, but it seems odd to me that they're leaking? The purpose of them is to allow the air inside those components to expand and contract without causing undue pressure or vacuum inside. They're located higher up like that so they won't suck in water if you're in deep.

There shouldn't be anywhere near enough fluid inside to come out of the breathers. There are some knowledgeable folks on the forum that may have some possible causes for you. Have you recently changed/filled the fluid is the t-case & front diff.?

 

Thanks Kilo, Yes the 2 with the silver caps. The caps are "loose" and can swivel so I thought maybe they were vents for something, must be for the tranny. Wonder why fluid is coming out...

 

No, nothing has been recently serviced. And I'm just guessing this is where the fluid is coming from since the lines are wet.

 

Again, not sure why anything would be coming out of them, but the one that I purchased for the rear is a whole lot better than OEM. Don't think you would need to replace these two up front but you might do the mod for the rear with a better one. You can still use the OEM for it but get it off the axle and higher so no water gets sucked in.

 

The fluid that seems to be leaking from them. Is it oil, water, or a mixture? Is it milky or cloudy? One guess I would venture is that maybe somehow you got water in both or one of them, and now when things heat up the expansion causes some leaking?

 

that sounds about right

 

It seems to be only oil, not cloudy as best as I can tell. I used 4wd yesterday as there was some snowand slush on the roads so hopefully you're correct Beau02. I'll keep an eye on it. Thanks everyone for your input and I'll post what comes of it.

 

This is more my opinion than anything else, but if I were in your shoes I would change the gear oil in both the front diff. and t-case to be safe. For anything at all to be coming out of those breathers, something is wrong - maybe detrimental to those components and maybe not.

Keep a close eye on them. Get them dry & clean and check frequently If conditions allow do some driving in 4wd. Good luck.

And x2 on what kilo said, putting an extension on the rear diff. is cheap and easy. I virtually never get into high water, but did it as an insurance policy. Total cost was less than a change of gear oil in the diff...