Rear diff seepage after recall

Hey all,

I just noticed my 2017 Tacoma sr5 v6 dcsb 2wd is experiencing some minor rear diff seepage. The truck has a build date of March 2017 and I purchased in April 2017. I brought the truck in for the rear diff recall in May 2017 with no leaks and only 1.5k miles on it. The dealership tightened the bolts to spec and I was good to go. Now the truck has 15k miles and the seepage most likely just started recently because it is very minor and I made a habit to check the diff for any leaks at least once a month. I will be bringing it in to the dealership tomorrow and I’m hoping they will replace the gasket, bolts, and fluid. Hopefully not many of us are affected by this but it is a good idea to check the diff every few weeks so that the dealership can fix this while the trucks are under warranty. Anyone else had this happen after the recall was performed?

 

If they just retorqued the bolts they never fixed it. It was guarnteed to seep eventually. The real fix includes changing the bolts and gaskets with better ones and refilling with new diff fluid. Just get it fixed.

 

mine looks like that and they re-torqued the bolts about 15k ago but nothing on the ground so I am not worrying about it now, but will change the fluid at 30k..

 

I’m at 36,599mi, just out of warranty.
Taking my truck into Toyota, for an oil change. Does this look like I should bring to Service Writers attention?

 

Yes I would let them know when you bring it in. That looks very similar to mine. Was your truck part of the recall? Even if not I would think it would be covered by the powertrain warranty until 60K miles.

I got my truck back from dealer last Monday and they torqued the diff bolts again and cleaned up the two spots. They said if there any signs of seepage again no matter how small they will change the diff gasket and bolts.

 

Your not out of warranty, your power train warranty goes to 5yrs, 60,000 miles. Your out of Basic warranty.

 

Yes my truck was part of the 2016 model recall. I think about 15k Toyota had re-torqued the rear diff. I was worried, because I’m out of warranty. I hope the will take of me under the power train warranty.

 

I have a 2017 off road.
Had seepage.
They were surprised because it wasn’t on the TSB list.
They ended up holding my truck for 4 days to swap the entire rear differential.
They should repair - imagine if you lost a lot of fluid and your rear diff locked up - disaster.
Make them do it

 

2017 dclb offroad. Had differential replaced at 10k due to seepage and howl. At 15k noticed seepage again. Dealer told me could be residue. They said they would retighten and put tracer dye in differential.
Told them I wanted gasket replaced. They replaced gasket and put tracer dye in. Also marked all nuts.
I figure if you can see seepage where else would the oil be coming from.
This is getting old.

 

I'm going in today.

 

should i go in? my diff was cleaned by the dealer 15k ago and this is how it currently looks...

 

Uh, yes.

 

@MGMTacoma17 I had the issue with mine as well. Took it in for the recall with a few hundred miles on it, they checked the torque, and cleared as fine. Then just prior to my 5K service I looked under the truck to verify there were no "issues" and found spotting on the rear end.

When I took the truck in I told the service adviser about it and he gave me a look (arch eyebrow in doubt) so @ 7am dressed for the office I rolled under the truck and took a couple pics with my phone. I showed him the pics and his expression changed completely. The dealership had to wait to get the 2nd recall service approved since they had already cleared it. It went in on Friday, they put my in a rental, finally got approval from Toyota Corp on Monday. Once approved they pulled the diff and replaced the seal, bolts, re-torqued to spec, and filled with fluid that day. When I picked it up I got an apology for the problem, gave me a $25 gas card, and a couple coupons for future service. I have checked it since then a couple times and it is clean as a whistle now.

Moral of the story.. take it in, stand your ground, and they will fix it. If they refuse, politely remind them that you can put a ticket in with corp and explain it to them with pics suggesting that they did not process the recall correctly. They will correct it ASAP. I did not have the threaten the service tech knew I was not playing when I took the pics while wearing dress slacks and shirt for office work with him standing there.

Get it back in there and Good luck!!

 

2017 OR model here

I noticed I had about 3-4 seep spots on mine at around 5k. They told me it was normal.

At my 10k service I told them about the recall and all the trucks that arent on it having problems too.
They tourqued the bolts down and said it was fine.

at 15k I brought the recall paperwork in and showed it to them. Then talked to the service department manager and the owner of the dealership and told them that a truck that is 1 year old shouldnt be leaking from anywhere or anything.
They agreed to order the parts the recall suggested and would supposedly preform the service at 20k

I am almost up for my 20k service.
To be honest im not sure if I trust that dealer to do the work, we have bought 7 toyota's from this dealer and never had a problem in the past, but we have never had to have any real work done on them either.

from what I gather they have two master tech's working there, the rest of the guys are just "part changers" and when they get stuck on something they ask a master tech.


mine isnt leaking bad and if you do a diff oil change every 30k then the oil will likely never get below an acceptable level.
No oil spots on the ground where I park and its not visibly wet.

but a new truck shouldnt have any leaks, so im torn on what to do.

 

If it was not leaking the proper recall action was to torque the fasteners:


However now that it is misting a bit they will fully disassemble the axle to replace the gasket and remount the carrier with new (not stronger, just new) nuts--the stud's wlll not be changed.

But, if I were the OP I would think long and hard before having the axle ripped apart and reassembled just to mitigate a tiny bit of weeping. It could be just a wee btt of gear oil that has been forced out of the gasket by the added compression of properly torquing the fasteners--I'd just keep any eye on it--and maybe torque the nuts to 18 lb·ft MYSELF to make sure they were properly tightened

 

My concern with having this recall done is when the tech pulls the axles, he will only pull out far enough to clear the splines out of diff. The axle will then rest and put pressure on the axle seal. This could damage the seal and cause leakage. My diff housing had 2 small spots on it, but after cleaning they have not returned. I prefer to keep a eye on it and not let dealer tech create another issue..

 

Well shit y'all say this and here I sit at the dealership with my truck out of my hands...

 

According to the recall docs they are supposed to change the axle seals, but I would not bet on that...

 

I brought my truck in for service and to have the rear diff checked. After waiting 1 hour I left with this loaner. I was told since the rear Diff bolts had been re-torqued at 15k. Toyota needed to re-submit the recall notice. Hopefully I’ll have my truck back in a few days.

 

Recall #2 coming soon