I noticed some leaking going on and when I looked underneath I noticed this hole which I am assuming has a plug in it at some point. What is the plug if that is the case?
Am I missing something here?
- Thread starter sacfj60
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The first and third photos show your flywheel cover. The hole is for water to drain out of it. It's more of a dust cover than a water/oil tight cover. If oil is coming out of that hole, it's probably from your rear main (crankshaft) oil seal, or (lesser probability) the welch plug at the rear of the camshaft gallery.
2nd photo: if you have oil in between your oil pan and the welded-on skid plate, it's either leaking from above (oil pan gasket or pushrod gallery cover) and running down into that gap, or it could possibly be a small crack in the oil pan, usually around the spot welds for the little skid plate.
2nd photo: if you have oil in between your oil pan and the welded-on skid plate, it's either leaking from above (oil pan gasket or pushrod gallery cover) and running down into that gap, or it could possibly be a small crack in the oil pan, usually around the spot welds for the little skid plate.
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- #3
That’s really helpful. Thank you.
Any leaked oil that runs down that far will blow back onto the flywheel cover. Clean all that off really well with brake cleaner. Spray both sides (oil pan and block) of the oil pan gasket, and the side cover (pushrod gallery cover) on the passenger side of the block as well. Then run the engine at idle in the garage or driveway for several minutes, and look carefully at all of those areas with a good light. You should see where it's really coming from then.
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- #5
Excellent. Many thanks
Like @1911 says, it's likely time to replace the rear main seal if it's leaking bad enough. Once you remove and clean both sides of that flywheel cover (the one missing the rubber dust plug), and then reinstall it, you can run the truck for a few days and see how bad the RMS is leaking - the amount of oil you're seeing might be accumulated from a very long time of a slow leak, or a very short time of a bad leak. If it's only a little bit, it may be worth running it and just keeping your oil level topped up.
It could also be the oil pan gasket. I thought I was dealing with a rear main seal leak and a similar leak at the front of the engine, but once I replaced the oil pan gasket, both leaks stopped.
If you do end up replacing the oil pan gasket, make sure you get the OE Toyota one-piece gasket and follow the directions in the factory service manual when installing.
If you do end up replacing the oil pan gasket, make sure you get the OE Toyota one-piece gasket and follow the directions in the factory service manual when installing.
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- #8
So far my levels are fine luckily. I am going to clean and monitor it and see where it leads me. Thank you for the input.
If you end up doing the oil pan just do the rear main at the same time it's right there
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- #10
Good point. I will look into that as well. Looks like I have some work to do.
The difference being that you don't have to pull the transmission to do the oil pan gasket.
Sue me for being lazy haha.
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- #12
Good point. As I don’t have a good garage set up it’s going to valley hybrids for the work. I am going to do preliminary inspections etc as suggested and then get it over to the experts.
I did mine on a slopped driveway on my back lol but they are awesome and will get it squared away
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- #14
No doubt. I am lucky to be close to them and have relied on their expertise for over 15 years.
From the factory, there was a rubber plug in that hole (it came with the seal kit). I just cover mine with piece of duct tape. Sor sells a plug for $5, but I'm sure you can find one at any local Auto Parts Help display
#72
#72
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- #16
I was going to get a small rubber stopper at Ace but tape sounds good too. Cheers
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- #18
Dig it
I had a leak that looked very similar to this. I swore it was an oil pan gasket or drain plug gasket but it persisted after replacing both. I finally said to hell with it and bought a new oil pan. Curiosity got the best of me and I needed to know what caused the leak. After drilling out the spot welds and removing that skid plate on the bottom of the pan I discovered exactly what my problem was. Rust had corroded its way through the pan under the plate. From the inside, it looked fine. However i literally stuck a screwdriver through the pan from the outside.
Take off that flywheel cover and see if there is oil inside it and coming down the back of the pan. If it’s dry, then your pan is likely porous.
Take off that flywheel cover and see if there is oil inside it and coming down the back of the pan. If it’s dry, then your pan is likely porous.
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- #20
Holy cow. Good point. I will add that to my list. Thanks for sharing this