Rear diff leak from fill plug & pinion seal

http://www.customtacos.com/tech.old...6toyrm/06toypdf/06rmsrc/rm2006ta/03700210.pdf

 

Thank you

 

To me ,that spray pattern would indicate a pinion seal problem.

 

I had a couple of bad pinion leaks on a few of my Toyota trucks, usually the leak is at the bottom of the diff where the pinion is under the universal and when driving the wind blows the oil on the under side of the dif. yours looks like something is under pressure and blowing out the oil to the bottom of the gas tank, maybe its that vent valve blowing out excess oil, maybe they overfilled it and its venting under pressure out the oil, its kinda of what the purpose of the vent is I think. usually a pinion seal leak wont sling the oil like that, not on mine I had 2 done on different toyota trucks, was just weeping out the bottom part of the pinion/dif area.

 

http://www.santacruzimportedtruckservice.com/tacoma-and-4runner-axle-oil-leaks/ maybe the diff vent needs to be replaced or cleaned
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jea_uo82ekQ

 

if you are comfortable with removing the rear driveshaft, putting it in 4hi, & test driving it....you may be able to isolate your noise/hum

I run two small businesses, one 15 years old & one new startup biz, so I feel ya on being budget minded....that's how a small business survives
& our tacos are are one of the most important tools in the tool chest, so we gotta treat them good
my taco has brought me great success in every aspect of life (building my home, business wise, going places safely)
I did a write up on my taco, I think you will enjoy it-
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/updated-toyota-tacoma-gen-2-write-up-306k-miles.591780/

 

Shop overfilled mine once and it leaked like ur is, drain the fluid and refill it.
On flat ground it will start spilling back out fill plug when it’s full. If it still leaks from pinion seal it will probably need to be replaced. And definitely make sure the fill plug has the crush washer on it!

 

Please change the vent valve. You’ve now been told a few times by a bunch of people. If you don’t listen why ask?

 

It has a bad pinion seal. Plain to see in that pic.

 

Question.

Purchased my truck at 26K (certified used) miles at 89 almost. I have never changed my diff fluids.
Would the dealership have changed those out prior to sale? It would relieve me a little to know that it was done and not make mine so urgent ( so it seems)

 

no

 

I took it out cleaned it there hasnt been any fluid coming from there. But likely will replace it anyways.

 

God damn. Lol.

 

no! unless it has maintanence records that show its been done. I bought mine used 49k miles Toyota certified and none of the 30k mile maintainence was done as far as I can tell. they also sent it out with a leaking front strut, and they had a checklist that said all was A OK. I would change it all out mine looked bad at 49k and so did the auto trans. fluid all these you can find DIYs here. Also a good Idea to suck out the power steering resovoir a few times and replace with a DEX3 or 4 auto trans fluid

 

might clean or replace my vent valve too if that little sucker clogs up could blow the axle seals, I never really ever paid attention to those things in the past, looks easy to do 14mm open end,brake cleaners, PB Blaster, some rags.

 

Check your brakes shoes, if there was a pressure build up then it may have pushed oil through the wheel seals and soaked the shoes.
Happened to me once.

 

that sucks, best to check and clean/replace those vent valves as part of maintanence routine

 

It happened before I bought the truck.
I noticed a small leak at the pinion seal when the truck was sitting in the dealership lot and used that to talk them down a little in price.
Removed the drum to look around and found a mess, brakes still felt pretty good even covered in oil. Breather was clogged with mud.
Cleaned breather, replaced shoes and drums and the pinion seal never leaked again!

 

hopefully they fixed it under warranty, that could add up to a hell of repair bill

 

It was a used dealership 2 hours from home, I would not trust them to rotate the tires.
It needed new rear brakes anyways. That little breather can cause alot of problems !