Mystery Tcase fluid

[agent orange]

Ive been having some issues recently with my 4wd being a slow biatch to engage and disengage, so i figured step one would be to check the easy stuff and when i cracked the fill plug on the tcase, it was overfilled with a very very light oil. It didnt have the look of water contaminated oil (it was a nice, light brown), but it was very very thin and seemed to have a very sparkly sheen to it. Now, my tcase was supposedly rebuilt about 10k ago when the tranny was rebuilt, so there shouldnt be any type of seal issue going on between the auto and the tcase. Also, my tranny fluid is a dark red, so if there was contamination going on it would have been some funky dark color. What im wondering is, would anything other than a blown tranny seal cause the fluid to be high (its occuring to me that i was on a slight grade, it might have just been that)? Also, im really poor right now, if my tranny guy refilled the tcase with the wrong fluid (aka too thin), would it be worth it to drain and refill with 75W90? Ive got a gallon of it but i doubt thats enough and i really want to be able to eat this week.

Matt

 

[agent orange]

Ok, just checked FSM, ive got enough oil to change it, but i was planning on taking the vacuum shift mechanism off to troubleshoot my tcase issues in the near future. Am i gonna need to drain the tcase again if i want to take that off? I may just wait and do it when i work on the tcase, feels like a waste to do otherwise. Am i wrong?

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Orange-Gear oil is cheap. If in doubt, change it. It only takes a bit over 2 quarts. If it's thin, was it just warm? Specs call for 80w-90, but 75w-90 will be fine. The Coastal gear oil from Auto Zone meats every specification out there and is very cheap-less than $2 per quart.

I don't like the sound of "sparklies" in the oil. That means you are eating metal. During the rebuild it is very easy to get the idler thrust washer in wrong. Does the t-case make any funny sounds?

 

[agent orange]

Sometimes when disengaging (which recently has been taking about 3-4 minutes) i hear a kind of whirring noise that increases with speed. It only occurs when coming out of 4wd, otherwise the tcase operates with no noticable noises at all. I assumed it had something to do with the shifting mechanism slowly transitioning from engaged to disengaged and spending time in a position it wasnt meant to be.

I cant take responsibility for the rebuild, i had it done by a guy who builds race trannys for some drag racing buddies of mine (he also built my auto too). I kinda get the feeling that he is very willing to overlook minor problems and take your money for the full rebuild, so i wouldnt be suprised if he doesnt know how to set up toyota tcases right (aka i dont think hed tell me if he didnt). Hes not a hack though, his stuff holds up to 700+ horsepower. Im gonna go change the fluid right now, ill update if i get anything more than a even sparklyness. Would you say that it would be worthwhile to pull the tcase and check everything out?

Matt

 

[FJnotCJ]

Check the sparklies and see if they are magnetic or not (you may have a magnetic plug)....I'm guessing they are not and are brass from the idler thrust washers...do not panick or tear the tcase apart!....yet. The washers are easy to put in wrong, but are not hard to put in right, so your guy probably did it right. I am thinking the cages from the idler shaft roller bearings may be rubbing the idler washers and making the metal, I only say this beacause it happened to me....

I rebuilt my splitcase (87 FJ60) about 40K ago, it made sparkly oil for about 40K miles...I recently had it apart for an h55 swap and found both thrust washers had a groove worn in them by the bearing cages...I can't figure out why it happened, there is enough room in the idler gear for the two bearings and the spacer between, and even if a washer was on wrong (mine were not) it couldn't force a bearing into the other washer....

Anyway, for 40,000 miles I worried a little and changed the oil frequently while waiting for a better reason to open it up, no problems, YMMV