Something is Leaking...

I have a 2005 Tacoma TRD. Found a leak on my driveway after a 6 hour highway ride (no 4X4).

What do you think is leaking. I have checked power steering fluid, engine oil, break fluid and coolant and all appear to be fine.

Any thoughs? The first photo is trouble light no flash on the camera, the second is with the camera flash no trouble light.

Thanks for any thoughts

Malfunct10n

 

Looks like an oil leak. Possible a valve cover gasket. Put some pieces of white paper underneath the car so you can see what color the fluid is, it might need to be there over night.

 

You know what man, I had this exact problem a couple months back. After I came back from trailing, I noticed a nice amount of oil in the driveway. It was under the tranny and up near the brake lines, real random spots. I check everything, and everything was at level. I consulted one of my mechanic friends and he couldnt find a source for it either. He thought that it was probable that I ran over a oil container or something judging from how random the oil spots were, either that or the powersteering leaked a bit and fluid was slung everywhere by the fan. But anywho, I washed the bay down with degreaser and pressure washer, and it has not leaked again since. Not saying this applies to your situation for sure but it is something to consider.

 

Check front engine front cover. Above power steering pump, and underneath it. Got mine done under warranty before it really started to leak. Use search button there's a TSB for that.

 

I have been monitoring it for a few days now, and it does look like engine oil. But because the dipstick is not showing any reduction in fluid I have begun to second guess my assessment. I can see some fluid on the inner wheel well (I thought it might have blown there from the wind on the highway) but I don't see where it is coming from...

 

Got to hand it to Toyota for making it easy to check the Transmission fluid.
I called them and asked where the hell the dipstick was.....
There ain't one. WTF........

Apparently you don't need to check it until it time to replace it in 100,000 miles.
Total B.S.

 

thanks for the ideas (although engine front cover and diff seal sounds expensive)...

 

could it be..... oil catch. if u recently had an oil change done, one of two things may have happened. 1- they may have left a small oil catch/container right below the oil filter housing, after driving for a while and rubbing on several parts (fan, belt) or just fell, it may have spilled the residual oil. 2- while doing the oil change, they may have not removed the little oil drain plug on the oil filter housing, plug came loose and spilled residual old oil.

also, it may be the diff breather tube. i doubt it would leak/blow out that much but its worth a look.

just remove the skid plate and try to trace oil from source.
just my $.02

 

Good thought on the oil change.
I changed my oil on mine and filled the skid plate full.
I put a plastic coke bottle under the little drain hole on the filter plate to catch the oil, but dropped the
bottle half way through the process. GO SLOW. Had to take the front 2 bolts out of the skid plate and wipe the mess up.

 

When I worked as a mechanic I had a customer who's car had a small oil leak that was going to be pricey to fix. He let it go for probably 20K miles. Every 3K he came in for a change and the entire bottom of his car was coated in oil. It was never down more than half a quart, and the engine had over 150K on it (Chevy). He never added any oil. It could have burned half a quart for all I know.

 

What's it smell like. ATF and gear oil have distinct smells.

 

You could add this stuff we use in the shop called Tracer Dye.It can be added to any
fluid.Once installed,you drive vehicle normally, and about a week later ,or 1k miles
you use a uv light.The leak will glow bright green.If added to oil,and nothing shows
when you check with the light,you just eliminated the engine.It can also be added to your air conditioning system (with a special tool) due to the pressure.

 

I have a leak around the tranny case. Can't confirm since I'm not a very good at these stuff. Does anyone know what it is? See the pic of where I have red arrows pointed. I'm guessing is tranny oil that's leaking. My transmission have been shifting rather rough when cold during the first 5-10 min driving. It's especially rough shifting down when I'm coming to a rolling stop from 4th to 2nd. It's fine after driving for 15 min once its warm.

Any thoughts or help would be appreciated. Once I am able to get an idea of what is causing the leak, I'm going to take it to a shop and make sure what they tell me makes sense.

 

Check your front diff breathers in the engine bay. Mine have burped a bunch of oil on more than one occasion. Made a freaking mess under the truck, checked the fluid level... was fine both times. Oil will start at the little caps and go down the 2 tubes

 

Isn't the front Diff breather a bit far from where that oil is?

 

Do you smell that burning @ all when driving?...........Looks like the oils gets into those knuckles and then throws it around while spinning. As for all the grit in it, it has to be dirt.

 

Ok from your description it seems you lost too much ATF and now are simply killing transmission. So you need to stop driving and add some fluid first before tranny simply implodes.. then replace leaky seal .

ah I was late ...

 

No, mine was all over... check the hoses on the top of the diff too... could have come off the little bracket with the 2 nipples