Toyota recalling 228,000 Tacoma's due to oil leaks and possible loss of control of vehicle

Thank you for that information. I am going to go to the dealership today to talk to the service manager face to face about this. He told me they did replace the gasket which originally he told me they didn't and they also added sealant. From what I can see is they shouldn't use sealant and if they do it should have been a lot less, just enough to hold the gasket in place. Mine looks like they used a caulk gun with a half inch opening and I have a bigger concern of how much went into the diff if that much is showing on the outside.

 

Sadly (for all of us) you'll never know what exactly they did unless you pull
it apart yourself. Too many of them just spew shit hoping you'll just go away.

good luck man, I'm still waiting on parts to be in before I take mine(I'm on the list)

 

As an OR owner myself, I'm very curious about how this is resolved. I'm sorry for your experience but appreciate the updates as many more of us may soon face a similar situation. Good luck.

 

Replacing the gasket requires removing the carrier assembly;
Removing the carrier assembly requires removing the driveshaft and removing the rear axles;
Removing the rear axles requires removing the rear wheels, and the brake backing plates
(on reassembly it is best practice to replaces the rear axle seals);

Are there indications that any of this was done?

If not (and this is what I suspect) then all they did was remove the nuts, crack the carrier assembly forward a bit, do some scraping and degreasing (maybe), and pump in the goop. This could probably be done without even pulling the driveshaft...

 

Who is this and why should I call them? Thank you.

 

I made it to the dealership and got everything they did yesterday in writing. Also when I went to leave to go there I noticed a this on my diff....

 

They took it in right away to take a look. They called me back there after they had cut away the excess sealant... to tell me that the wetness was just from it not being cleaned up properly from yesterday. They also called the "Field Engineer" about my concerns with the use of sealant and the excess getting into the diff. Supposedly the field engineer said it was not a problem and if any excess did get in the diff it wouldn't hurt anything. Now I am no mechanic but is this really true? At the moment I had them document everything including the use of sealant for my records but I feel uncomfortable about the whole thing.

 

I see no indications that this was done. I know from m dash cam that it took them 2 1/2 hours to do the work plus an inspection. I warned the service manager that he might want to tell his techs to watch what they say and do as I had a lot of "interesting" stuff recorded on my dash cam....

 

I looked her up and now see that she is the Executive Analyst for Customer Relations. Has anyone contacted her before?

 

haha did u have the cam running the entire time?

 

The dashcam I have has a motion detection option which I leave on so it will record for 30 seconds when it senses movement and then shutoff. It was doing this but they also had the truck turned on most of that time which the dashcam starts up automatically and records until you turn the truck back off. It records voices very well..... I have a nice video of them taking the truck for a test spin after "fixing" it.

 

priceless! post it up!

 

Exactly! They would have had to replace the axle seals, brake fluid and re-bleed the brakes. They did not do this.

 

This is what my gut had told me when I saw the photos--they removed (maybe just loosened) the carrier fastener nuts, edged the carrier back enough to scrape out the gasket, cleaned it up, squirted in the goop and tightened it all up.

The good news is that it probably (99.44% sure) won't leak (in my Mustang days we rebuilt rear-ends all the time without gaskets, using just a good grade of RTV sealant), and I would not worry about any of the goop that might have gotten in to the housing. It's volume would be minuscule compared to the 3 liters of gear oil, and it has no chemistry that would have any negative effect on a differential.

If you find the ugliness unbearable run a razor blade around the perimeter to cut off the excess...

 

Thanks again for that information. The dealership did clean it up for me now. I am hoping the drip I saw was from them not cleaning everything up correctly the first time around but I have my doubts. What bothers me the most is the misinformation I was giving by different people within Toyota. Hopefully you are right and the end result is it won't leak anymore. Time will tell.

 

I will have to see what I can do. They acted like they had never seen a dashcam before. It was bizarre.

 

maybe the "oh shit" factor set in when they realized it's been
on recording them the entire time.

 

Yes I have and she is working with.

 

Yeah, as I said earlier why do they have to lie? Why not just say "I don't know, let me find out."

And what was this BS with the other dealer telling you there was no gasket...

 

They would not have necessarily "had to" replace the axle seals--if I were doing my own I would assess them and make a determination based on 60+ years of experience (though at the age and fiscal situation I find myself now I would have replaced them)--if I were doing it for a client or friend they would be replaced...