Pumpkin gone bad

I have a 2010 Tacoma 4wheel drive with 94,000 mile on it. I've had a howling rear-end for some time now. So I decided to bring it to the dealer for an inspection. They told me that the Diff was bad and that I needed to pay for the teardown. They also stated that if there was water in the fluid that it would not be covered in the warranty. If it was warranted all would be covered. Have any of you had this problem and if so how does water get in the Diff. I thought that they were water proof? I launched my boat all summer....could that be a factor?....Freaking out, because its a three thousand dollar screw up.......any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

Did you do the differential breather mod?

 

Its a stock set up, the only thing I've done is change the fluid twice.

 

The black hose coming from the diff is the differential breather mod. Thats where the water can get in..
In a stock set up you would have a 1 way valve or nipple, but it can still suck water in.

 

Bummer.....Well hopefully there will be no water in there...and the dealer does not bullshit me....thanks for shedding some light on this issue.....also if water did get in there....shouldn't that be covered in the warranty?

 

Instead of a three thousand dollar tear down and rebuild you could send off your third to ECGS and have them rebuild it. I'm guessing it would cost half as much to do that if you think you won't be covered under warranty.

 

Does the front diff has a similar design with the nipple?

 

No the front differential is actually properly vented far above the top of the pumpkin.

 

It lies on top of the transmission if I remember right.

 

Could be. I just know it's not something you need to reroute unless you intend on water sealing your truck to play in deep water. In that case, well, redoing the differentials is actually the easy part compared to rewiring everything.

 

$3000? What exactly are they doing for that? You can get a new 3rd member from ECGS for around $700 and it's a simple swap out that will take you 2hrs or less. Have no idea what wheel bearings cost but that can't be that much to bring it up to $3000.

 

They aren't called stealerships for nothin.