2017 Land Cruiser Oil Leak?? (1 Viewer)

[yotafan200]

Just picked up a 2017 Land Cruiser yesterday and have no complaints, love everything about it! It is lifted so I decided to have a look at the underside today and noticed possibly an oil leak, not too sure from what though. I will upload a few photos and would like to get some feedback on what this might be and whether it is critical for me to get fixed asap… as per records the oil was changed 1,500 miles ago.

 

[tbisaacs]

Take the skids plates off and get a better look.

 

[yotafan200]

Take the skids plates off and get a better look.

Will do!

 

[FerrisBueller]

My guess is the previous owner was changing the oil themselves, and didn't realize they should have removed the access cover when draining. Or maybe while draining they weren't paying attention - once it gets to the very end of draining, something small like even a breeze can make that trickle of oil go all over the skid plate.

 

[Sandroad]

Or a poorly trained person at a dealer didn’t know to drain the filter canister before removing it and had oil everywhere on the plastic skid and didn’t clean it up. Ask me how I know. Those free oil changes/services at a dealer in the first 2 years cost a lot, what with oil messes and damaged HVAC. Anyway, clean up the plastic skid and see what’s there.

Edit…..is it the lighting, or is the center of the chassis going toward the rear dark with oil/dirt too?

 

[yotafan200]

Or a poorly trained person at a dealer didn’t know to drain the filter canister before removing it and had oil everywhere on the plastic skid and didn’t clean it up. Ask me how I know. Those free oil changes/services at a dealer in the first 2 years cost a lot, what with oil messes and damaged HVAC. Anyway, clean up the plastic skid and see what’s there.

Edit…..is it the lighting, or is the center of the chassis going toward the rear dark with oil/dirt too?

Yep I think so as well, before I bought it from the previous owner it was traded in to a Porsche dealership and they sent it to a Volvo dealership to get the oil changed, and I believe from what FerrisBueler said, the technician who was changing the oil probably didn’t do it properly and got the oil spattered on the skid plate and everything. I was just nervous because one of the bolts for the skid plate was dampish wet to the touch so I just went back to the garage and looked at everything above the skid plate and luckily everything is bone dry, free of any signs of any leaks (should’ve done this before hand). The part that you’re mentioning is actually closer to the front and I doubled checked again I believe oil was just spattered on it probably because of that oil change done at the Volvo dealership. On a side note, is this normal grease on the suspension parts or is it leaking?

 

[Tex68w]

Yea looks like residue from an oil change.

 

[bloc]

When the skids are off look at the pan for drops hanging off it. Also possible they didn’t have the correct drain plug gasket so reused what was on there.. due to the plastic layers on each side they really are single-use.

 

[FerrisBueller]

Yep I think so as well, before I bought it from the previous owner it was traded in to a Porsche dealership and they sent it to a Volvo dealership to get the oil changed, and I believe from what FerrisBueler said, the technician who was changing the oil probably didn’t do it properly and got the oil spattered on the skid plate and everything. I was just nervous because one of the bolts for the skid plate was dampish wet to the touch so I just went back to the garage and looked at everything above the skid plate and luckily everything is bone dry, free of any signs of any leaks (should’ve done this before hand). The part that you’re mentioning is actually closer to the front and I doubled checked again I believe oil was just spattered on it probably because of that oil change done at the Volvo dealership. On a side note, is this normal grease on the suspension parts or is it leaking?

View attachment 3269916

Funny, I have grease leaking from that lower ball joint that I had just written a post about. Notice how the two outer bolts clearly have been removed before, and the middle one looks new. I wonder if your lower ball joint was recently replaced and is leaking anyway, or if like others have guessed maybe it's just oil that you missed during cleanup.

 

[bloc]

A dealer changing that ball joint with Toyota parts means doing the whole arm. It’s most likely original, just the nut is shiny from the oil separating from the grease.

 

[rlynch356]

both of the outer nuts have been off, with a gun.. look at the wear marks on them.. so the lower ball joint has been changed at some point.

is there a pin in the cable nut? should be.. anyway that is probably over torqued and causing the ball joint leak, or its over filled and I am not seeing a pin.

 

[bloc]

both of the outer nuts have been off, with a gun.. look at the wear marks on them.. so the lower ball joint has been changed at some point.

is there a pin in the cable nut? should be.. anyway that is probably over torqued and causing the ball joint leak, or its over filled and I am not seeing a pin.

You are jumping to conclusions. The pin is clearly in the castle nut. Those bolts being out doesn’t guarantee the ball joint was changed, let alone that it was over torqued. And how would that cause a leak anyway? It’s just pulling harder on the tapered shaft. They could have had issues with alignment, CV, diff, strut/spring, spacer, hub, even a wheel stud, any number of reasons to separate that assembly from the knuckle but leave the ball joint in place.

 

[yotafan200]

Funny, I have grease leaking from that lower ball joint that I had just written a post about. Notice how the two outer bolts clearly have been removed before, and the middle one looks new. I wonder if your lower ball joint was recently replaced and is leaking anyway, or if like others have guessed maybe it's just oil that you missed during cleanup.

I don’t think my lower ball joint has been replaced, I looked at all the service records and it seems to be original

 

[yotafan200]

A dealer changing that ball joint with Toyota parts means doing the whole arm. It’s most likely original, just the nut is shiny from the oil separating from the grease.

Yep, I also think it’s original, to give some context, it got a lift kit installed, new spc upper control arms, new axle, and alignment done at the dealership 1000 miles ago

 

[RET2]

After removing factory skid plates a can or two of brake cleaner, drive for a day or two and evaluate.

 

[bloc]

Yep, I also think it’s original, to give some context, it got a lift kit installed, new spc upper control arms, new axle, and alignment done at the dealership 1000 miles ago

Makes sense. Grease could have been from ball joint bridge (what I call the metal bracket it bolts to) being manipulated beyond the range it moved in prior to the lift. The new grease wouldn’t bother me one bit.

 

[AnyMal]

You are jumping to conclusions. The pin is clearly in the castle nut. Those bolts being out doesn’t guarantee the ball joint was changed, let alone that it was over torqued. And how would that cause a leak anyway? It’s just pulling harder on the tapered shaft. They could have had issues with alignment, CV, diff, strut/spring, spacer, hub, even a wheel stud, any number of reasons to separate that assembly from the knuckle but leave the ball joint in place.

Lol, yeah but definitely time for a torque check on those bolts though!

Them some serious bolts OP. And our level of trust is low. The ball joint does look pretty new though? Any records or history provided?