Transfer case leak

While doing an oil change a couple weeks ago, I noticed my transfer case was leaking where it meets the transmission, input side. I drive 100 miles a day so i checked the fluid which was basically still full. When I pulled the fill plug, it was under pressure and shot out. As the truck is a 2020 with 25k miles, I called the dealer to have it looked at and told him what I saw. They looked at the truck the next day and confirmed a leaking seal and bad breather. While there, I went to pick up some transfer case and differential fluid as I was planning on doing these at 25k anyways(ocd I know but that is me). I was told they do not stock anything in quarts, only 55 gal drum but could order what i wanted in quarts. I heard the prices and decided to look around. Through this site and others on the web, there is much debate I guess with what fluids to use and where to buy.

I scheduled the appointment and picked it up today. On the slip it says 75w 85 gl type fluid was used. When I asked the service manager to confirm the fluid was acceptable he brought the tech in who said it is all they use and never have problems. After voicing my concern, they agreed to order 2 bottles of the lf 75w that is spec’d and either they would swap or I could do it myself. When I got home and out of work clothes, I climbed under and saw they welded the exhaust nuts, hopefully to just get them free but not sure why he wouldn’t have used a torch. I have done this before on older trucks but not very excited about it on something with 25k miles and still under warranty. Additionally, the seam is wet with oil again at the original leak location, hoping this is residual fluid that wasn’t cleaned out of the housing.

Looking for some feedback and help managing expectations as I have little to no experience with dealer service work. I owned a business with 12 or so trucks and pieces of equipment for 15 years and did all my own mechanical repairs. I am definitely considered OCD and very detail oriented but is this reasonable for a dealer to use/do?

 

It's funny I had the exact same truck as yours with the exact same problem. The dealership "fixed" it under warranty by replacing some seals and o-rings inside. It stayed dry on my way home. The next morning lo and behold, it's wet again. If we see this more often perhaps we'll see a TSB or recall?

 

The seal might be okay tbh. If the case is being pressurized when the fluid heats up, it could be weaping from the seals. I'd start with the breather and monitor. Also, good job on free LF oil. Shits expensive

 

Did they have an explanation for how the breather stopped working? Pretty unusual since front diff and tc route into the engine bay and are two-way (allegedly).

At least the rear diff one has a history of seizing... after a while at least.

 

They did not have an explanation on why the breather stopped working other than it was defective. Hopefully this doesn’t become a recurring or widespread issue but I agree the breather is the cause and the seal is the weakest point.

Curious to open the fill plug tomorrow when I get home from work and see if there is pressure built up.

 

I think I will be checking the breathers this weekend and do a flush with the correct fluid once I confirm leak has been corrected.

 

Wondering if this is an MT thing. Seems like it

 

I hate this answer.

I'd firmly and maybe not so politely point out that the Owners manual for a 3rd gen is pretty clear on what to use.

 

Wow the dealers are getting dumber by the day.

 

They fought me for a while that it didn’t matter what type of fluid LF 75 or GL 75w85 even thought their printout says LF type fluid. When I said I would be fine if they had something from Toyota that said they were interchangeable their tune changed.

I am still curious peoples thoughts on welding the exhaust flange nuts. I would think a warranty repair should replace them if seized.

 

This is why I do my own work -- good on you for forcing them to do the right thing. Unfortunate that you would need to.

 

Are you sure that's a weld tack? Those nuts are part of the pipe... Looks more like slag from the torch getting it a pinch too hot prior to bolt removal.

 

Maybe the stock "weld" popped loose and they tacked the nut back on. Although that doesn't really look like a weld

 

Thanks to this thread I crawled under my ‘20 Taco OR 4x4. Bone dry.

 

In person it looks like a tack weld. Upon closer inspection I am thinking he used a tack weld to heat the nut to remove the bolt instead of a torch to concentrate the heat better. I still don’t love it but at least he didn’t weld the nut and bolt together.

 

The downside is that those nuts and bolts will rust together so fast you can't believe it and their temper is totally gone from that amount of heat. I'd yank them out and replace them with a SS set and use lock washers and anti-seize on them. And I date document the exhaust work that the shop did because Toyota won't cover that most likely as they will claim it wasn't them that did that.

If the donut wasn't replaced then they took apart the exhaust, it will leak from that spot in the future.

 

Good call on the donut, I wasn’t even thinking about it. Such a bummer, would have been easier to just replace the seal myself. And wouldn’t have spent over an hour at the dealer either.

 

I wouldn’t worry about that at all. Dude that exhaust looks like hammered dog shit and it's not even that old, in another year it'll turn to dust anyway. If it was me, I wouldn't worry about the exhaust or that bolt / nut

 

I agree it looks like terrible, part of the reason I wish it didn’t get disturbed. I know I will be annoyed if I end up having to replace exhaust on a two year old truck because warranty repair didn’t replace a seal that should have been.