Help Identify Two Wet Spots - 1995 Land Cruiser

[mceagle555]

I'm active on the 200-series forum & own a 2008 LX570, so I don't have much background on the 80-series.

I was helping a friend change engine oil on his newly acquired 1995 Land Cruiser (290k miles). Noticed quite a bit of caking/wet spots in three areas below:

1. Entire power steering reservoir area
2. Front wheels (Drivers side particularly)
3. General area under engine (Front horizontal shock, front steering components, front diff, etc...)

I cleaned a good bit off with brake clean so we can identify things in the future, but wanted the advice from this forum as to what these may be tell-tale signs of.

Thoughts?

 

[bj70bc]

those are signs that your landcruiser is in heat and needs some particular 'attention'
asses and caress.... you know what must be done

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Knuckle job, new power steering hoses (low pressure) with better clamps, and the usual front main seal, oil pump cover, and dizzy oring

 

[Marvelicious]

She definitely needs some lovin'!

I've dealt with overwhelming grease like that on older rigs before and I'd go easy on the brake cleaner: it's rough on plastic and rubber, which isn't going to help anything. I'd use a milder degreaser. For this kind of overall grunge, I like the Simple Green HD (aluminum friendly, unlike the regular) and multiple rounds of cleaning. I'm lazy, so in situations like that, I just spray it down, let it soak and rinse it off once a day until I start getting things clean enough that it seems like less of a job.

Other than that, it seems likely that you've got a condition known as birf soup happening in that front axle... The axle seals have failed and oil is diluting the birfield grease, causing the whole mess to ooze out at the knuckles. Depending on your feelings about the rest of the axle, it might just be worth doing knuckle rebuilds. Depending on if it's a daily driver or not, it would be worth having the parts on hand because you've gotta dig in there kinda deep to get to the seals anyway. Buy the parts, replace as needed, or put 'em back on the shelf.

Also, those power steering hoses likely need to be replaced... I mean, you can take another crank on that worm clamp, but it doesn't seem to be helping!

That's the obvious stuff to start with.

 

[Kernal]

All above plus search on this forum and YouTube for 80 Series oil leaks, front axle service (or knuckle service), Oil Pump cover gasket, distributor O-ring leak,
Valve cover gasket, fuel level sensor gasket, Upper Oil pan arch seal leak, etc

 

[60 toy ota]

Knuckle job, new power steering hoses (low pressure) with better clamps, and the usual front main seal, oil pump cover, and dizzy oring

Nailed it.

 

[mceagle555]

Thank you all for your help! Love this community.

 

[LongDuck]

That Steering Damper is original. When they go bad, they leak at the seals and offer no resistance when extended and retracted. You might try removing the outboard end and move the rod back and forth, and I think you'll find it's blown. Not likely to be the source of your oil spray, but,... "while you're in there"!

New at 4-Wheel Drive Parts, I spent $100 for OME which came with new pivot bolts. Good luck,