Transfer Case Leak

Toyota has been known to have incorrect levels of fluids from factory like auto trans up to 1.5 Qts low.

It could be they overfilled the tcase at the factory and with no breather valves it would leak past the seals.

Has anyone actually drained the tcase and measure how much fluid comes out?

I’ve way overfilled a front diff before by mistake and it came out the breather valves.

Tcase doesn’t breath AFAIK

 

Not a wide spread problem in the midst of all the 3rd gens that have been sold. Definitely thanks for catching this.

Question... why wouldn’t you want to use an OEM product on your truck, especially if your doing the work yourself? You already saving money doing it yourself, and then know your putting the exact fluid your truck requires, hence no issues if a warranty claim arises, if used properly.

 

Agree with AdventureKid... Not only don't understand why a do-it-yourselfer wouldn't use OEM fluids, filters and other parts on a relatively new vehicle but cannot for the life of me understand why a Toyota service department would use anything other than the LF 75W Toyota brand fluid that is "supposedly" required according to the owners and service manuals, let alone Toyota Care people. Valvoline multi viscosity gear oil, in the Transfer Case... Really... Toyota Techs...

 

Outside of debating fluids.

Remember, Toyota doesn’t manufacture motor oil, transmission fluid, transfer case oil, power steering fluid etc.

The Toyota name is placed on other manufacturers oils and fluids.

Toyota specifies the weight of oil or type of fluid to be used in any particular model of all of their vehicles.

Just like you can use any motor oil of the proper weight, or any transmission fluid recommended by a manufacturer for use in a Toyota transmission, or any differential oil of the proper weight.

Aside from the small differences in additive packages of any oil or fluid, your transfer case or differentials probably won’t explode, that is, they’ll be just fine if you use the proper fluids recommended by their respective manufacturers.

TW members can recommend many different quality oils and fluids that will work great in your Tacoma.

If the manufacturer says it can be used in your vehicle, then you are good to go.

And sometimes you can save a lot of money not only by doing it yourself, but by using a non Toyota branded fluid.

Ravenol transfer case oil is about 1/2 the cost ($15 vs $32) of Toyota branded oil and it meets the Toyota spec.

 

Do agree with most of what you said but when Toyota, according to Toyota specs., specifies straight 75W in their transfer case and a Toyota service person puts a multi weight gear oil into that case, I would have a problem with that. Toyota designed and built my truck and I would follow their recommendations on fluids to use. Engine oil, differential fluid and tranny fluid I would agree with you as long as it's a premium brand, and yes, even the transfer case fluid but only in the correct weight with correct additives. I do like Ravenol products and I would probably have no problem using their transfer case fluid in my truck, again due to the fact that it is straight 75W. As far as going by what the manufacturers say about their own products... If Skippy said that their peanut butter would be "good to go" in my differential because it has peanut oil in it... I just don't believe a lot of the so called "facts" floating around. And if Toyota did use and jar that said peanut butter, yes, I would probably figure out that it was made by Skippy as I do understand that they actually do not manufacture their own fluids... even their Toyota branded transfer case fluid... actually could be made by Ravenol... or maybe even Skippy... who knows.

 

Does the Tcase have any syncros? If it does the added sulfur in regular gear oil would lead to corrosion.

The straight 75W stays that weight when it heats up and the 75W90 gear oil goes to 90W when it heats up. Correct me if I’m wrong, this might be an issue.

Also, I stand by my theory they could have just overfilled the Tcase at the factory with whatever fluid causing too much pressure and blowing the seals.

My Tcase is the only fluid I haven’t changed yet since I didn’t want to put in 75W90. I’ll get the straight 75W and drain the Tcase and measure how much comes out. If it’s well over a quart then I stand by my theory of overfilling.

I’m aware the diffs just start spilling out if you overfill them, but I overfilled a Tacoma front diff by a qt once by mistake and it was a mess through the breathers. The Tcase is sealed along with the MT from my experience.

 

It does have a breather. Its on the top cap. The hose goes up on the trans and the breather is behind the engine.

 

anyone else experiencing this issue still?

 

Yes. T case and diffs are that simple. Open the filler and either look for a drip to come out or fill until it does. It's the same for the manual transmissions also.

 

The fluid is indeed 75W fluid. From what I understand the majority of dealerships put

$29 75W-90 Synthetic Gear Lube - 1 Quart (Pack of 2)

75W-90 in there since they have it around for the rear and front diffs. The fluid you are looking for is Toyota Part No.

$94 08885-81080 Toyota Genuine Transfer Case Gear Oil LF 75W 1 Litre 08885-81080

08885-81080 TRANSFER GEAR OIL. I recently bought two quarts for 120 bucks. Not cheap. Not to be an alarmist, but there was some thread on TW that mentioned the fluid looked quite dissimilar to the standard 75W-90. Im sticking to the good stuff in the transfer case since I use 4WD a good bit, and think it's relatively cheap insurance for that transfer case. 0.02

 

Took my 2017 TRD Sport in for service with 12,500 and technician spotted the problem. Sounds like this is a somewhat common issue.

 

I was just in for a 20k service even though I have not yet reached 20k but they also fixed my clutch squeak. They didn't say anything about my tcase leaking oil but I looked under and it's terrible! Oil all over! Gonna have to take it in. I was also looking over all the rust and I don't see how this truck is gonna last 5 years. I don't even think I can get bolts apart at the condition they look now! What's up with the rust?

 

Where do you have rust? If it is visible on the body then I would think it would be covered under warranty.

 

The rust is kinda just everywhere but they say it's just normal. Doesn't look normal to me though. I'm going to start spraying the underside.

- just got a call from the dealer saying that a seal in the tcase went bad and that they will be replacing it tomorrow when it comes in.

 

So it was the input shaft and output shaft seals of the transfer case.

 

Do you think it's excessive to have 12 miles put on your truck when having the input/shaft seals done? I was at 21mpg when I dropped the truck off and then got it with it at 18.7mpg. Guy must of been ripping it. I never get that kind of mileage.

 

I noticed big MPG dips after the 5k and 10k service. My guess is that they start it and let it idle a (really) long time while doing final checks? The mileage might have been them looking for a quiet straight road to fully test the T case after the work?

 

I have fluid seeping from the transfer case drain plug. I don't believe it is coming from the shaft or anything above it. They replaced the plug and crush washer, but the leak is back!

 

I've been monitoring my leak for a while now and I've been to two dealerships, neither of them want to do a warranty claim because it's not "leaking". I'm still under powertrain warranty and was told it would be covered by that if it becomes a "leak". Besides the fact that an almost brand nee truck has fluid coming out of it, what concerns me is where the transmission and transfer case meet isn't sealed. There's not supposed to be fluid present there at all, which means the input shaft to the transfer case has a seal that's wearing out already. Hopefully they take care of it soon, next time I head over to the dealer ship I'm going to request a case be opened with toyota along with my twitching tachometer and speedo needles.

 

Weird how a leak isn't considered a leak. My case was leaking from several points and not near as much. They pulled it and i think replaced the body of the transfer case. I was down for about a week.