Perpetually leaking axle seals

Dear Tacoma World,

I had the axle seals replaced in the 2wd rear of my truck, and 2 weeks later they are leaking again. They were professionally replaced so I assume they did it correctly. Does anyone have any ideas about what is causing the problem and preventing this from occurring again? clogged diff breather? sludge in the casing fouling seals? should I dab some rtv on the inner seals and pray? let me know what you guys think. Thank you very much

 

Clogged or defective breather valve is probably the biggest issue,

Did you replace that 10.00 part?

 

Welcome aboard new member

 

thanks for the welcome, to answer the others, no i did not replace the breather, I will give that a try first thing. Thanks All!

 

does anyone have a part # for the diff breather or a rec on where to get one? thanks

 

Rubber hose

 

The Toyota part num for the breather is 90930-03031. You can also do a breather relocate that will route the breather valve higher up in the bed to keep it from getting clogged. I routed mine up behind the fuel filler neck. That job requires:

Toyota P/N

$8 90404-51319 Toyota Union - 90404-51319

90404-51319
6ft of 1/4" ID fuel line (expect a tight fit)

$5 Dorman 924-284 Differential Vent Breather

Dorman 924-284 (could use the Toyota one, but Dorman is cheaper and works)

 

Thanks, I will definitely relocate mine since I can't stand having the same problem more than once!

 

I looked at a couple of you tube videos to re-acquaint myself with what is going on thinking that there is something "special" with Tacoma rear axles like there is with Hardbody axles. In one of the videos is clearly shows play in the bearing. Is it excessive, dont know. Could this cause a leak, yes. The other thing that I noticed is that it looks like the factory seal is a double lip seal whereas the replacement seal looks to be single lip, tough to tell from the video. Is this the case in your repair, dont know. This isnt that difficult of a job to have so many posts on the forum about rear axle leaks.

 

If the breather clogs up the pressure buildup forces oil out of the seals. If the axle bearings are worn out then replacing seals is no good without first replacing the bearings.

The leaking oil removes the grease from the axle bearings and they start to wear down more quickly.

You can just clean the breather without replacing it. It is just a pretty simple part, you can spray it out and blow through it to make sure its clear then put it back in.