'01 Tacoma dripping front diff breather hose (1 Viewer)

[srogers]

Hey all - '01 Tacoma, 4wd, 104k miles, original owner, stock daily driver other than the ARB bar up front (keep the deer and elk out of my radiator!).

I've got the breather for the front diff (the one located under the hood tucked along the driver's side inside fender well) that keeps burping up gear oil.

I've pulled the one way cap on the hose, and it is functioning properly.

I've pulled the soft hose down to the hard line, and it is free of cracks and defects, and is not blocked (obviously since it is dripping!).

I've drained the front diff, and changed brands of gear oil two separate times with the mftr suggested 75w-90. No shavings or metal flakes stuck to the drain plug magnet. When refilled, I went to the bottom of the fill plug, let it settle, and replaced the fill plug. Took the approximate 1.25 quarts as it was supposed to.

At a complete loss - my mechanic thought that maybe it is indication of a seal failing somewhere on the front axle, that is small enough to allow air in and cause the breather to "burp" but on his lift I couldn't see any signs of oil leaking anywhere other than the breather hose. Right now, it is dripping a fair amount, but when I drained it there was plenty in there.

Anyone with any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[liljlandon]

Had this happen on my mini... Ended up running all new hose because the hose had gotten blocked, pressure built up and it popped itself off the axle.

Check that the hose flows air freely, other than that... The diff should only have pressure to push oil out when it (is)

a)upside down.
b)really hot.
c)has a cold
d)broken

 

[srogers]

FYI for future reference - seems like this might be a common occurrence:

Front diff breather wont stop leaking - Tacoma World Forums

I'll run the extension and see what happens...

 

[liljlandon]

Do it!

It never hurts to extend a hose that prevents water from getting you... But, its more avoiding the problem than solving it Let me know if you find a fix!

 

[srogers]

Hey, I'm all for it - I'm pouring too much money into the 60 to afford to tear the front axle apart right now!

 

[hoch]

How much is coming up? My old Tacoma and 4Runner (s) all had gear oil spit up around that breather. None dripping down the sides, but a good 4" radius around the breather was covered in oil. Other Taco's I've seen had the same deal. I just thought it was normal.

 

[srogers]

It's funny, it's always had some as you call out but the other day driving over a pass in 4wd it was visibly pooling down the hose. It could be that I had it slightly overfilled from the recent change, so I'll see if it decreases a bit in the next few weeks.

In other words, I dunno

 

[bowyer2002]

It's funny, it's always had some as you call out but the other day driving over a pass in 4wd it was visibly pooling down the hose. It could be that I had it slightly overfilled from the recent change, so I'll see if it decreases a bit in the next few weeks.

In other words, I dunno

Have you considered that driving over the overpass caused a pressure change inside the diff?
As your elevation increases the pressure inside the diff could increase.
Just a thought.

 

[srogers]

I had thought that might be a possibility, but it's been doing it at normal elevation (I'm at 1800 feet), in town (1400 feet) and over the pass (5200 feet).

I am running the pickup back over the pass this afternoon and coming back late tonight, so I'll see what happens with the extended breather hose.

 

[hoch]

If you just replaced your fluids, I'm betting that's the cause.

BTW, your old LC is plugging along just great. Have to thank you for keeping it so clean and well maintained. The front o2 sensor went out two weeks ago and I was dreading changing it out, as I was thinking it was going to be rusted and I could be faced with replacing the whole piping. Well, came out with zero issues. Looks like you may have put some anti-seize on it? Anyway, saved me from possible headaches and $$$.