front end still leaking (1 Viewer)

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Feb 19, 2004
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ok i just had new seal kit installed on the frontend of my 93 cruiser & it stop leak on the inside but the outside still has fluid coming out on to my front wheels. does anyone have any suggestion i should give the guy doing the frontend work on my crusier ????
 
It sounds like your differental fluid is leaking from your axle seal. It will leak into your knuckle then run out the knuckle seal.

HTH,
 
I agree, it sounds like a bad axle seal. When you had the "seal kit" put in, what did that entail? What seals were replaced? Was the spindle taken off to inspect the condition of the grease in the birfield joint? What did it look like? Was gear oil in the grease? If the axle seal is bad it will allow the gear oil in the diffirential to enter the steering knuckle (home of the birfield joint) and the moly-b grease that lubricates the birf will be thinned out by the gear oil and it will not lubricate as needed. The birf will wear out pretty quickly and will need replacing (big $$). If gear oil is leaking out the front side of the steering knuckle, then it is almost certain the axle seal is shot and gear oil is in the steering knuckle (not good). You need to find out if this is in fact the case, and fix immediately (or get your wallet out).

Wayne S :cheers:
 
Sounds like another victim of the uninformed mechanic. I know of 2 other folks who paid upwards of $500 per side to have every seal replaced EXCEPT the inner axle seal. They thought (and the mechanics did too) that this was what was needed, but didn't know the vehicle.

Monte, my suggestion would be to have your mechanic give you free labor to open the entire thing back up just like he did before, but spend another 15 minutes this time replacing the inner axle seal. You pay for the part. He should have known this was the source of the leak in the first place - it's his job to know these things.

DougM
 
So the seal kit that comes from toyota that cost 200 + does not included all the seals? Man thats a rip off. The mechanic does not mind breaking everything down again but he states it will just take a full day again. & while he has it i'm getting a popping from the right side possible bad birf. So i'm buying some new one for him to replace the old ones. One & done.....Thank for the feed back everyone & no i can tell him what to replace...................
 
Believe the $200 front axle seal kit does include all the gaskets that are needed to repack the birfields.. Recently got the birfield done and believe the mechanic left out the inner seals in the process.

If you do buy a new birfield, make sure it is a birfield and not an aftermarket one....heard there are some problems with the aftermarket ones.
 
Montelawrence.

Your first mistake was not buying what you need from C-Dan. Your second mistake was not understanding what the job entails. You can blame Toyota and you can blame your mechanic, but in the end you have to do some research so you understand what needs to be done. Then you'll be a happy camper again.

Read the article by Jim Phillips in the tech pages here on IH8MUD. There will be a new version by semlin shortly but all you need to know is in the article that Jim posted.

There is a knuckle gasket "kit" but it's much cheaper to buy the parts individually. The inner axle tube seals are not in the "kit." The wheel bearing dust seals and the wheel bearings are not in the "kit." The hub nuts are not in the "kit."

-B-
 
The knuckle service package, 04434-60051, typically sold by dealers does not include the inner seals (90310-35010 x2) None of Toyota's knuckle kits include the inner seals. I provide the stuff as individual components as for some strange reason they add up to less than the price of the kit. I ALWAYS remind purchasers that the inner seals are a must as this is why they are going in there.
In some cases people get exactly what they ask for and no more. Sometimes the parts person knows about the inner seal, sometimes he doesn't unless asked directly about it.

I have had mechanics order a short block, thats it! :doh: I say to myself "So, how does the dumb bastard plan to put it togther without gaskets?" I then get a gasket set anyway and hand him just the block :flipoff2: . He says "what about gaskets?" I say "you didn't ask for any" :flipoff2: I then let him freak out for a minute and only then do I produce the gaskets and hand them to the dummy.

Then I always ask "Gee, don't you just HATE IT when you get what you asked for instead of that you needed?" :rolleyes:
 
This just emphasizes the need to choose an experienced mechanic who specializes in Land Cruisers for the job that needs to get done. I’m not knocking your mechanic. I have a good general practitioner I go to for most of my medical needs but if I needed open heart surgery I’m going to choose a specialist and it isn’t going to be ear, nose and throat guy.
 
Glad I'm informed. When the time comes I will go to CDan and have him send me all of the stuff I need. I will then hand the mechanic the instructions from this site on doing the work. No experienced Toyota mechanics in this area, but since this job is done by members using the FSM and instructions from this site I am hoping that my local guy can figure it out.
 
it sounds like they did not replace the the inner axle seal or on the off chance that they did they may not have lubricated the shaft before sliding in back in, which may cause damage to the inner axle seal, I've seen this done before and cause the seals to begin leaking really quick, just thought I would throw that in there
 
[quote author=Pitbull link=board=2;threadid=12832;start=msg118792#msg118792 date=1078957837]
Glad I'm informed. When the time comes I will go to CDan and have him send me all of the stuff I need. I will then hand the mechanic the instructions from this site on doing the work. No experienced Toyota mechanics in this area, but since this job is done by members using the FSM and instructions from this site I am hoping that my local guy can figure it out.
[/quote]

I've tried the instructions route once (no twice). Unless you are lucky, these guys don't read what you hand them. Before doing mine I wrote up a detailed requirements list (had it reviewed on this site) but by the time I was happy with the list... I was talked into doing it myself. Glad I did. I'm not saying that you can't get it done correctly somewhere but trying to teach someone to do it won't work.
 
thank for all the info everone. my inner seals were replace & birfield joint were rebuild yesterday & my baby seems to be ok. thanks again ?
 
monte,
This is why a lot of us try to do as much as we can by ourselves. Most of us have trusted the dealers or mechanics at least one too many times and ended up paying for it for a long time.

Getting to know the pages here, and the resources like Cdan and others will pay off dramatically. Glad everything seems to be fine now.
 
Montel,

Did you crawl underneath to see where the leaking was? Real interested, because I'm beginning to think this is where my leak is. Got back underneath mine again this weekend. Most of the 'oil' looks like it's coming from the front differential or just behind it. It's well front of the speedo o-ring issue recently posted. It's not the oil drain plug either. No popping or clicking from the front knuckles. Hear an occasional low whining sound on acceleration now that I've had windows down more often.

Any thoughts???

TIA
 
it was leaking from the inner knuckle seal & the inner axle seal. a tell tell sign is the build up aroud the knuckle seal area. & black gunk on the wheels. my leaks were pretty bad in both places. after 2 trips to the shop & alot of help from these guy we got it fixed.
 
Thx - mine is not over by the knuckles, but rather right behind the front differential.
 
[quote author=Brentbba link=board=2;threadid=12832;start=msg129452#msg129452 date=1080665676]
Thx - mine is not over by the knuckles, but rather right behind the front differential.
[/quote]

do you mean where the drive shaft goes into the front diff? if so it may be the pinion seal, check your front diffs fluid level, if you mean on the drive shat itself it is likely just gease oozing out of the u-joints, may also be oil dripping down from above
 

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