Oil Leak from Front and Rear Main seals, Urgent fix? (2 Viewers)

[cc93cruiser]

I was wondering about a slight leak that my 1993 cruiser has developed over the past couple of months. It seems like not only the rear main seal is leaking(which is pretty common with high mileage cruisers...mine has 180K), but the front main seal is also leaking too. I will post pics up tomorrow to confirm, but I am pretty sure that is where the leaks are coming from. Those are the only leaks/problems that my other wise flawless cruiser has ... I was wondering if there's other 80 series owners out there with the same problem that have not necessarily ignored the problem, but have just not prioritized in fixing this slight problem because it does not seem like that big of deal and is common with cruisers...?
To fix the rear main seal alone, I heard that you have to pull the tranny out ... that is one of the main reasons why I haven't dealt with this problem... I wanted to see what you guys think of this problem, how much it would cost etc etc.... Again, I will post up pics tomorrow..The rear main leaks about 1 dropof oil every couple of days....

 

[powderpig]

I would pull the plastic cover for the hole in the back and put a mirror up there to see what is leaking. It could be the pan arch leak (can do a search on this). The front also can be a pan arch leak, but is easy to see where the leak is comeing from once you pull the rock pan and look. Little drips are not a big thing(unless you hate leaks like i do). good luck robbie

 

[fj803fe]

I am with Robbie on the oil pan archs being the issue. But for cost-I just replaced my front seal/timing cover gasget on my 92 (much different timing gasget on the 1fz BTW) for less than $60 Mobil 1 included in price....

 

[firetruck41]

Usually the only problem with slow oil leaks is keeping it topped off, and the wife yelling at you for staining the driveway, it all depends on how much you can take

 

[landtoy80]

I dropped my tranny twice trying to fix my "rear main" leak.
It ended up being the rear main seal retainer to oil pan seal.
It can be fixed by etiher dropping the tranny or dropping the oil pan.
Both are big jobs, don't know which one would be the easy one.


Along with that the front main seal was leaking.
Right after I replaced the front main the oil pump seal started leaking. So I had to pull the pulley again.

I also had the timing cover slow leak along with a flowing front oil pan arch leak.
Both of those leaks went away when I switched to Rotella T syn 5w40 oil.
Don't know why the leaks went away with the Rotella T syn but as long as they don't come back, I won't wounder too hard

 

[LX_TREME]

I would pull the plastic cover for the hole in the back and put a mirror up there to see what is leaking.

Damn this guy good ... do it as he said

 

[e9999]

guys, leaks are a topic better left untalked about...
there is this well-known law of metaphysics that says that if you look at a leak it gets bigger. If you talk about, it turns into a gusher in no time...
You'be been warned!
My truck has *no leak*, no leak, no leak.....!

 

[cc93cruiser]

thanks powderpig and everyone else, I am going to go down stairs right now and take pics and also pull the plastic cover off and take a peak in there and try to match up anything that is leaking with the FSM, and I will post up pics in a bit..I was thinking of switching over to a different oil viscosity and maybe brand to see if that would stop the leaks, although I don't think I have ever heard of Rotella T syn 5w40 oil??? Where can you buy that?

 

[Tools R Us]

I have ever heard of Rotella T syn 5w40 oil??? Where can you buy that?

Walmart, about $13 a gallon.

 

[cc93cruiser]

Here are the pics that I said I would take:

Here is a pic of the front end of the engine, although I didn't really see that much oil coming from the front seal location:

Here is another one:

The next pics are pics of the rear seal location, the first pic I took with the plastic seal/cover still on:

Once I opened that cover up, I took my mirror and placed it inside the rear main location. I noticed that the rear main itself is not leaking (you will see in the next pics), but I did find where the leak was coming from. Right beneath the rear main seal, there is another seal that seems to be just gasket sealant or something (you will see in the next pics what I am talking about.. )? Anyone know if this is a seal/gasket, or just sealant? I still have not checked the FSM to see what part it is, but I am going to go grab it right now...Anyways here are the pics:

Pic of cover off, and also pic of rear main seal:

Here is a pic of the seal/gasket sealant?????where it is leaking....It is right beneath the rear mian seal:

Oh crap sorry about the size of the pics.....

 

[JerryLX450]

Yes...help me too please...

Same here please fellas cruiser let me know what i need to replace?

 

[Tools R Us]

Spend some quality time with some engine cleaner at the carwash, when it's clean watch carefully to find where it coming from. Don't ignore the top side, I have seen valve cover leaks run down the block then get blown around making it look like everything underneath is leaking, when it's just the valve cover.

 

[decoco]

sorry to resurrect this, but I have the same exact issues, was wondering if this came to a resolution.

 

[OGBeno]

Love seeing these old threads resurrected.

Goes to show that none of this stuff is new and we've been dealing with it for over a decade.

 

[landtoy80]

99.9% its the rear main seal retainer. That is if its leaking from the rear of the motor.
Remove trans, remove the rear main seal retainer, replace the seal and use Toyota sealant or other to seal the retainer.

 

[decoco]

99.9% its the rear main seal retainer. That is if its leaking from the rear of the motor.
Remove trans, remove the rear main seal retainer, replace the seal and use Toyota sealant or other to seal the retainer.

time to drop my pants... I'll try rotella see what happens.

 

[landtoy80]

Rotella T stopped some of my front oil leaks. One was a flower (arch oil pan, stopped leaking),one was a seeper (front part of motor, stopped leaking) and one was a broken seal (oil pump seal). No oil will fix a broken seal.

On my rear main retainer leak it looked like the seal was pushed into the motor. It made a lip where oil would pool and leak.

To see if the oil will work to swell the old seals you need to give it some time to work. It took several oil changes before my leaks stopped. I change oil at around 9000 mi. Leaks my get worse before they get better or they might just get worse after all the old oil sludge is removed but the seals are broken.

One other thing, I was using the old Rotella T. Its now Rotella T6. Several years ago they also changed the formula to work with newer diesel motors. I noticed an increase in oil consumption when they changed the formula but it may of been a coincident with the age of my 80. I have very slow seepage now with the T6 but its a maybe coincident too. I have no idea if the T6 has the same swell sealers or any sell sealer in it now. I have no idea if the old T had swell sealers in it or if it was just the synthetic oil that swelled the seals. Bobistheoilguy.com would know.

 

[decoco]

Rotella T stopped some of my front oil leaks. One was a flower (arch oil pan, stopped leaking),one was a seeper (front part of motor, stopped leaking) and one was a broken seal (oil pump seal). No oil will fix a broken seal.

On my rear main retainer leak it looked like the seal was pushed into the motor. It made a lip where oil would pool and leak.

To see if the oil will work to swell the old seals you need to give it some time to work. It took several oil changes before my leaks stopped. I change oil at around 9000 mi. Leaks my get worse before they get better or they might just get worse after all the old oil sludge is removed but the seals are broken.

One other thing, I was using the old Rotella T. Its now Rotella T6. Several years ago they also changed the formula to work with newer diesel motors. I noticed an increase in oil consumption when they changed the formula but it may of been a coincident with the age of my 80. I have very slow seepage now with the T6 but its a maybe coincident too. I have no idea if the T6 has the same swell sealers or any sell sealer in it now. I have no idea if the old T had swell sealers in it or if it was just the synthetic oil that swelled the seals. Bobistheoilguy.com would know.

Thanks for your response and attention on this...

Once I get a picture of what I have going on, would you mind taking a look at it, to see if it reminds me of what you have had done.

I can work some more simple things, but this business of dropping the transmission, is not my deal, and would like to define this leak a bit more if possible before I take it in.

 

[landtoy80]

If you are going to pay to had leaks fixed you should look into having a shop or yourself add a die to the oil and look at the leaks with what ever light source they use to detect the die. Have not tried doing it myself but may shops will do it. Not sure how much better it is than power washing the oil and looking for leaks.

Post up the pic.

How much oil do you leak? If its just drips I would just try Rotella T6 or a swell sealing oil (high mileage oil) or maybe a swell sealing additive (not sure how well they work). It get costly to drop trans to replace the seals. If you do drop the cash, make sure you pick a shop that knows to replace the seal and reseal the retainer. Might be good to change the PHH at that time too.

 

[decoco]