27k on truck.. Rear main leaking!?

While I was under the truck trying to figure out why I had a suspension clunk (appears to have been the LCA cam bolts not being torqued correctly after an alignment), I saw that I had a fluid leak.

The truck has just under 27k on it. Was serviced once at Mountain States Toyota (awesome service there), the rest were at Stevenson Toyota West. I originally went to get the truck at Stevenson, and ended up going elsewhere, and it seems pretty common to have bad service at Stevenson in sales and service from many people that I've spoken to. But, as long as you know a good tech, you should be good.

At first, I was using a tech who's on this forum, and he knows his stuff, but the last few times I would specifically schedule with him, and confirm with the people when it was dropped off, but he would never see it, so they were giving it to random other people. So it has been serviced the last three times now by others. The last time took FOREVER for the 25k service. Going in, I noticed that the passenger outer CV boot was leaking through the clamp (boot is in good condition). The tech wanted to remove my fridge to get to the spare tire tool (because he did not have one, and/or was unsure of how to drop the spare to rotate it in), he ended up using one from the tech next to him. After he finally finished, I did not get a post service checklist/report because the tech "did not do the report correctly and it wasn't in the computer." But I was told by the service writer that the tech said everything looked new, apparently CV grease all over the passenger side suspension is another "just how Tacomas are built" thing. The service writer called me after I left and he helped the tech do the report correctly, and again said no issues were noted. I do not recall any oil leak prior to this service.

The leak looked to be coming from inside the bell housing, and today I was able to get under there and look at it.

This is what I saw when I first found it earlier last week, or maybe last weekend. It was wet, but dirty, and did not look like it was dripping. I could not really confirm that it was oil since it was all slick, but not anything I could wipe off and smell. I assumed it was oil since it was dark.


I didnt get any good outside pictures today, but it is definitely oily and there was a drip forming on the drain plug.

I tried to get up in the access/drain port at the bottom to confirm that it was coming from inside the bell housing... looks like it is.





And a video



So... she and I will be making a trip down to Stevenson Toyota West in Lakewood, CO to see what they have to say about this issue. With 27k, this should be a no brainer and covered under warranty... this is not a wear item at this mileage unless I was driving IN the ocean for the last 27k. It has only been serviced at Toyota dealerships since new, and I have never added any additives or anything to the oil.

The oil was checked and was at or slightly above the full mark, I should grab a picture of that prior to bringing it in tomorrow just for my records.

 

Bueller...



Haha. Appears to be rear main seal or the seal holder and is under warranty. It'll be dropped off in two weeks to go under the knife. I got rid of my Tahoe with 206k on it because it was leaking oil... Kudos Toyota. My steering wheel shakes like my 206k mile Chevy did, leaks oil like it, I just wish I got the same gas mileage as I did in the Tahoe, it'd be a nice improvement.