Broken Shock - Leaking Axle Housing WTF

just FYi regardless how they claim oil seepage is normal, it is not. don't let them get you

 

Sorry for your troubles on your newly acquired Tacoma.

Welcome to the forum.

Please do keep us posted on how it works out. I'm most curious about the diff cover leakage.

x2

 

I got home from work tonight and took a closer look at it, I've driven it 18 miles from the dealership to work and home. Here is what it looked like.



It appeared to be a little moist (which doesn't show up that well in the pic) so I rubbed my finger across the suspected area and this is what I found.



A damn pin hole in the weld. I'm wondering why the tech didn't see it??? So I drove it back to my work to get the UV light another 16 miles all freeway this time. When I got back with the light I re-inspected it and this is what I found.



The green stripe is the oil with the dye in it leaking down the rear diff. Needless to say I will be back at the dealership waiting for them to unlock the doors again at 0700 with 8 1/2" X 11" Glossy prints. Now since this will more than likely be warranty because of a bad weld ( it's Toyota's fault that the robots that welded this diff together had a bad day along with the inspector that passed it)I will be asking for my 15 bucks back for the dye.

Now for those of you who are going to ask how I got the pic showing the oil dye..... With a UV light you generally have to wear yellow glasses to be able to see the dye or tracer fluid. So I waited for it to get dark outside Mounted a yellow camera lens filter on the lens of my Dslr and took the pic with a shutter release cable why shining the UV light on the oil leak.

 

Looks like you found the issue.


Are you intending on having the dealership replacing the housing, or hit it with the TIG? I'm not too sure I'd even want them going through the hassle of replacing the housing. It seems like they usually fuck more up than they get done when it comes to issues like this. A quick weld with a TIG setup, or even some cold-steel would more then likely be a permanent and maintenance free fix.

 

I'm not sure what there going to do, but I do know for a fact the to hit it with the tig (if they have one) they will have to drain the diff, remove the third member and clean all the oil out of it, the pin hole included. Then weld it shut. That's the proper way. Other wise it will be a crap shoot as to if it will work. If they choose to replace the housing thats fine to. If the fuck some thing up it will go back until it's right. In other words they will be married to it and it will be one of those jobs that just never seem to go away.

 

Thats true, even with repairing the housing, there is quite a bit of work involved. You know whats best for the truck and seem to have a good automotive background. With that said, I would stand your ground and make sure the truck is repaired like it should be. The last thing you would want is to get it back with a band-aid.

 

Just out of curiosity...I wonder if cleaning the area up real good and sealing it with something like JB Weld work? After all, the housing isn't under any pressure or anything...

If so...would (could? might?) that be the dealer's fix?

Or might this be an indicator of something more basically wrong with the weld that could lead to catastrophic failure down the road...not having much of a welding background just makes me ask questions!

 

Fuck all that patching and time wasting trial and error for the dealer's benefit. You have a drivetrain warranty. This is most definitely drivetrain. Dealer needs to replace the complete housing at very least....and up a loaner while they swap it.

 

x2
if there was no warranty we could suggest repairs but since there is still warranty it is best to get replaced. It takes good amount of work to repair diff that is socked in oil.Right now it should be warranty work if Toyota refuses for some unknon reason then repair will be in order but even then Iwould rather suggest picking up another housing from junkyard

 

Is Toyota obligated to replace the axle housing? I don't have my warranty book to check the verbiage but I think they can repair at their discretion.

Just askin'....

 

The repair will cost as much in time and money as just replacing the housing with a good one. To patch this would not bestow much confidence to the customer (if it were me). If they were truthful about customer confidence being their main priority and not just blowing smoke up everyone's ass then they'll just swap out housings or better yet, swap the whole fucking rear end, put brakes/wheels back on it & call it good.

 

Since there's quite a few products available for sealing porosities and pinhole leaks I'd just have a hard time believing Toyota wouldn't try such a repair first.

Buuuut then...they are on a PR blitz now for customer satisfaction. It'll be interesting to hear what Toyota does for the OP!

 

Problem is I dont think there are many successful repairs unless somebody did overhaul which is time consuming as hell. That diff is porous enough to have gear oil in the metal. I know sounds crazy but gear oil somehow gets inside the metal so there is crap load of cleaning and grinding involved to patch that hole, otherwise it will leak again shortly. I doubt Toyota is going to spent all this time and effort and have result that may or may not work. So most likely they going to go with new housing. I would be very surprised if they have anybody on staff that can weld

 

With proper prep, it can be done. I've patched MANY oil pans in the past by using JB Weld and nearly all have held up for the remaining life of the vehicle. Sometimes a customer would rather pay $100 in labor and $5 (repaired pan) in parts rather than $100 in labor and $400 in parts (new pan), and I can see why.

 

The only real question is will they do the right thing, or not. OP let us know the conclusion to this since we all want to know how it turns out.

 

I was at the dealerships door armed with the photos and documention yesterday morning at 0700. The service manager wasn't in so I delt with the service advisor. He said he would get with the manager and call me back. At 15:00 I called him back and he gave me a song and dance but told me to come in today at 0720 to talk to the manager and him. Well the service manager looked at my pictures saw the leak right away with out me pointing it out like I had to do with the advisor. I admitted to the manager the tech did do a good job of cleaning the area and added the dye like he was supposed to but it appeared that he failed to do the road test and re-inspect after that. There was no documentation of the road test or a higher out mileage on the work order. Well this service manager just blew a gasket over that and said he will be dealing with that part on an internal basis as he stated an out mileage is critical to him and there operation. I also told him that as the customer I shouldn't have to complete the diagnoisis of the problem. He agreed 100% He stated this will be taken care of. I asked which course of action they were going to take and he said probably repair. So I told him I was well aware of what it takes to repair this leak properly and explained the process to him of taking it apart, cleaning it, attempting to back the oil out of the metal, welding it reassembling everything and saying a few hail marys in hopes that this will work. He said it sounds to labor intensive and they would more than likely replace the carrier/housing but he would have to contact the area toyota rep. He reassured me that this will be taken care of and I would hear back from them today. Now for the waiting game.......

 

Pressurize the axle with a regulated 3psi. Drain the axle, use soap bubble on weld. When you find the leak, by the looks at the end of the bead where the crater is, get a 1/8 welding rod. Set welder to 90-120 range and push about 1/2 inch into depression. Let cool and check again. Disconnect battery ground side to protect components. Also pre area, clean off paint and get a good attach point for a ground in front of yourself and on the other side of the weld.

Do not use too much pressure you will blow uot axle seals. You could go in through the vent maybe. I havent done a toyota yet.

 

Very well played.

 

Sounds like a good news

 

this looks like an easy fix to me and if it was my truck I wouldn't expect, or even want, them to change the housing. The best fix is one that is satisfactory and the least invasive. The more they take apart the more they will have a chance of screwing up in my experience. If there was a structural crack on a weld, then yeah, change that part; but this is a tiny pinhole.

Basically what ianc said. Drain the oil, grind paint off and solvent clean near pinhole, grind/sand off paint for a good ground somewhere else.... then a two second shot with a MIG welder and it's done. A solvent cleaning and at most a quick preheat with a torch with a small tip will burn off the oil at the pinhole if that's a concern. Note I actually have both a MIG and stick welder, torches...

Oh, and nice photos by the OP!