front diff breather hose blew off

So here at crater lake with family camping . This morning we left camp really early to go see sunrise at crater lake and pulling up some big hills and the current temperature was 39°F this morning. There is really steep grades here in crater lake National park. Anywho I started smelling a little bit of burning oil and I was like what the hell . So pulled over immediately and got underneath the truck. Instantly I seen a few drops on the ground near the front differential. Grabbed my flashlight started investigating around a hot motor and bamb there it was the little rubber hose that comes off the differential and goes to another metal tube . I hope I didn't lose too much diff fluid I can't check fluid level till I get home tomorrow and that's 400 miles wish me luck . The undercarriage had some spray of diff fluid but not very bad . Wasn't soaked underneath.

 

Good Luck!

 

Un-blow it back on. Easy peasy.

 

Better to blow off your breather tube rather than a diff seal anyway.
If possible, i’d try to make sure that the vent tube or breather isn’t pinched or plugged somewhere upstream causing the diff pressure to blow it off....

 

I know the exact little part you’re talking about. Why Toyota designed their breather tube that way, no idea.

 

Replace the breather on the other end of tube in engine compartment.
The hose blows off if the breather is clogged and can cause the loss of ADD Actuator on front differential due to moisture getting inside.

 

It took some fanagaling with minimal tools but I got the tube back on and I have obd fusion to monitor front diff temp . Fingers crossed

 

You will not lose any significant amount of fluid. There's zero chance your diff is at any risk from fluid loss.

 

Let's hope

 

How do you monitor front diff temp? I wasn’t aware there was a sensor.

 

How? After I changed out the gears I was having some oil leak from the breather inlet. I decided to upgrade the hose with a stronger braided hose, hose clamps and an inline mesh fuel filter. Placed the filter on the high end of the breather to allow air to separate form the oil if it ever gets that high. There was no way I could get to the breather inlet without removing the ADD, it is so tight in there.

 

I had OBD Fusion and remember that PID.
It may have been part of the Toyota specific PID pack for Fusion though..

 

Some third gens have a front diff temp sensor.

 

Which ones? I’ve never heard of this before.

 

There’s lots of PIDs in OBD fusion Toyota pack that don’t work or register on the Tacoma. I’ve got the pack, I’ll have to look into this. If anyone know what the front diff temp PID description is, let me know. I’ve never seen a temp sensor wire on anyone’s Tacoma front diff, but am open to being wrong about this.

 

It's definitely a thing. Can't say which years / models tho. Maybe @Jeff Lange can give us some insight?

 

Can't remember exactly which thread it was discussed on but Jeff confirmed the temp sensor was taken out at some point in the 3rd gens short life. Mine shows -69F so PID is there but the sensor is not.

 

This is what I experience with a lot of the Toyota specific PIDs. They are part of the bundle, but don’t apply to all models. I’ve seen a lot of Toyota regear videos when I was considering doing it myself, and none of them involved disconnecting a front diff temp sensor. That’s why I’m surprised this is a thing.

What would the ECU even do with that info? With no warning light or gauge?

 

Don't worry about the fluid loss. When I installed the diff seal badly after the bushing swap, the underside got covered in lube the whole way back to the rear axle and wheel wells. I was only missing about 4oz, after swapping the seals twice.

 

I think there is a warning you can get on the dash. I thought I recalled someone getting it.