Rear Main Seal Question

The last few times I have changed to oil I have noticed some wetness near where the transmission and engine connect. The other day I noticed about a softball sized puddle of oil under the car, and am about half a quart low on oil. I'm guessing its the rear main seal. Its a 2001 V6 Automatic with 160k. The few places I called want close to grand to replace it. The most complicated work I've ever done on a vehicle is replacing the starter. Is replacing the rear main seal something somebody with limited mechanical knowledge could realistically do, or do I need to bite the bullet and take it to a shop?

 

You have to drop the transmission. Not a beginner friendly job. I say pay to have it done.

 

With limited mechanical knowledge your going to spend a lot of time figuring crap out and trying to remember where all the plugs and bolts go along with learing how to disassemble everything and your mosst likely going to get lost and if you don't your truck is probably going to be out of commission for a significant time.. id say let a shop do it but if it were me I'm stubborn like that and would just dive in

 

This is correct. Mine was also leaking but I had it repaired out of warranty. I think the total came out just over $1,000 as well at Toyota had I of paid out of pocket.

 

Have you called any transmission shops?
My front pump seal in my tranny was leaking and when I called around I got quotes from $500.00 - 800.00 and when I asked about replacing the rear main they all said just bring us the seal and they would put it in while they were in their.

 

Ya that is what I am afraid of. I thought about though and I was quoted 1k, I'll probably spend $200 on tools like a transmission jack, socket extensions etc. I make $10 an hour at work so that leaves me about 80 hours to figure it out before it's not worth it. I'm going to dive in this weekend.

 

Yup I don't blame you, I didn't like what I was quoted so this is what I ended up with and it worked well for the price.

 

Good luck since its your first time make sure you tag all the wires and stuff so you can reference them later when you put it back together and get a sharpie and a box of sandwich bags to put the bolts in based to location like the trans cross member in 1 bag the bell housing bolts in 1 bag and be sure to make note of which bolt is longer and stuff which will definitely come into play with the bell housing. so as long as you can keep track of where everything goes you should be fine its pretty simple really just don't get in over you head and start getting lost or you'll probably be paying for a tow truck and the shop also for the bell housing I found it simple to use a 2.5ft extention with a "wobbler" extention.. dunno what its really called.. cause there's the bolts at the top of the bell housing that you won't be able to reach easily