Yet another reason to do your maintenance (1 Viewer)

[Hte2w8]

My 94 was dealer maintained until I bought it 6 mos ago and I got all the records from Bob Smith Toyota. Diff was supposedly done less than 3k miles ago. I was under my truck examining the fill and drain plugs and noticed the front one looked like it hadn't been touched in a while...especially when compared to the rear. I decided to change out the gear oil to mobile 1. I got the rear plugs off ok and the fluid looked new coming out. I had a HELL of a time with the front...pb blaster, breaker bar, hammer, heat etc over the course of a few days. Finally got it off with a heavy duty impact wrench and the fluid was filthy. I doubt that plug had been off in a very long time. There's no way it was changed 3k miles ago. Once I changed the fluid the whine I was hearing went away too.

Way to go Bob Smith Toyota.

 

[timer00]

I wouldn't trust a dealer for maintenance like I don't trust my wife with the Land Cruiser well she loves the LC too and knows things about it but I wouldn't let her work on it

 

[kidglove13]

Does not surprise me
They could not get the plug off so they said fxxx it who is going to know anyway.
Most Johnny car owner would have never known

 

[Ebag333]

I had a HELL of a time with the front...pb blaster, breaker bar, hammer, heat etc over the course of a few days. Finally got it off with a heavy duty impact wrench and the fluid was filthy. I doubt that plug had been off in a very long time. There's no way it was changed 3k miles ago.

And this is why you take the fill plug off first.

 

[doc W]

What a bummer. Hope everything else is OK with the front end. You might just want to do the dreaded front end job to make sure all the seals are working OK. Leaking seals will make the dif oil look grey.

Should be a way to report dealer fraud. The PO clearly paid for work that was not done.

 

[Kernal]

Was the front diff gear oil black?

 

[kidglove13]

I am sure his seals are fine
Grease will migrate from the knuckles to the diff no matter what and is not a real problem just change the diff oil out more often
It is when the diff oil migrates the other direction and comes out the knuckles is when there is a problem

 

[Hte2w8]

What a bummer. Hope everything else is OK with the front end. You might just want to do the dreaded front end job to make sure all the seals are working OK. Leaking seals will make the dif oil look grey.

Should be a way to report dealer fraud. The PO clearly paid for work that was not done.

Front end is the next big thing I'm doing. Wonder what else they charged him for but didn't do. Oh...and the belts? NOT oem...even though the PO paid for oem.

 

[profro]

I had the local dealer flush and replace my tranny fluid when I bought the truck. No more than 6 months and 5k miles later the tranny was sounding bad. So I checked the fluid (first time since dealer work) and it was pink and frothy. I took it back and had them flush until it was correct. Of course they blamed me for having it off road. When I had to show them where the tranny breather was I gained a little credibility.

 

[Hte2w8]

Was the front diff gear oil black?

Not black...brownish/grey. Thankfully there wasn't much debris...metal etc. Front diff sounds so. Much. Better now. Wish I could do the front end soon but my skills aren't there yet.

 

[jeffro109]

not too much skill needed, just a lot of paper towels, maybe 2 at most. Take it apart and put it back cleaner.

 

[ToddD]

Not black...brownish/grey. Thankfully there wasn't much debris...metal etc. Front diff sounds so. Much. Better now. Wish I could do the front end soon but my skills aren't there yet.

It seems intimidating but it's really not that bad at all. Put up your location and maybe someone close could lend a hand if you need a wingman. Seriously, it's not bad, just really dirty. It's pretty easy to get everything apart. And there are awesome write-ups on here that walk you through it!
Do it!

 

[ybhc]

My rear plug was all boogered up by one of the previous owners or their mechanics. The metric socket didn't quite fit on it well enough to get enough torque on it to loosen it (it was extremely well stuck in there)

So I hammered on an imperial 3/4" drive socket on there since the 1/2" breaker bar just wasn't long enough to supply adequate torque. As I was on my back under the car trying to do this, pushing up was the only real option to get enough force on it, so at first I was real careful not to smash my finger into the control arm bracket on the axle.

Well after getting real fed up and just pushing with pretty near all my might I got terribly careless, and when it finally broke free I smashed my index finger into the control arm mount.

Probably the most painful thing I've ever done. All I did was go and sit down in the garage for about an hour holding my hand (as unmanly as it is to admit, there were tears ). I was sure I had blown my fingernail off or something so I grabbed a rag and wrapped it around the hand. I couldn't even touch anything to the entire hand for the rest of the day. Fortunately there was no lasting damage.

Just another PO horror story that is somewhat related to the topic.

My 94 was dealer maintained until I bought it 6 mos ago and I got all the records from Bob Smith Toyota. Diff was supposedly done less than 3k miles ago. I was under my truck examining the fill and drain plugs and noticed the front one looked like it hadn't been touched in a while...especially when compared to the rear. I decided to change out the gear oil to mobile 1. I got the rear plugs off ok and the fluid looked new coming out. I had a HELL of a time with the front...pb blaster, breaker bar, hammer, heat etc over the course of a few days. Finally got it off with a heavy duty impact wrench and the fluid was filthy. I doubt that plug had been off in a very long time. There's no way it was changed 3k miles ago. Once I changed the fluid the whine I was hearing went away too.

Way to go Bob Smith Toyota.

Well I found out why it was so hard, PB blaster is the worst dedicated penetrating oil you can buy.

 

[Ebag333]

So I hammered on an imperial 3/4" drive socket on there since the 1/2" breaker bar just wasn't long enough to supply adequate torque. As I was on my back under the car trying to do this, pushing up was the only real option to get enough force on it, so at first I was real careful not to smash my finger into the control arm bracket on the axle.

Well after getting real fed up and just pushing with pretty near all my might I got terribly careless, and when it finally broke free I smashed my index finger into the control arm mount.

Probably the most painful thing I've ever done. All I did was go and sit down in the garage for about an hour holding my hand (as unmanly as it is to admit, there were tears ). I was sure I had blown my fingernail off or something so I grabbed a rag and wrapped it around the hand. I couldn't even touch anything to the entire hand for the rest of the day. Fortunately there was no lasting damage.

Just another PO horror story that is somewhat related to the topic.

Well I found out why it was so hard, PB blaster is the worst dedicated penetrating oil you can buy.

PB Blaster works okay, about as good as anything else. You probably should have used an impact wrench, hammer, heat, and/or cold.

Place the end of an extension right on the bolt head, few whacks with a hammer on the other end often loosens it up. Follow up with an impact wrench, and it will usually spin right off without any risk to your fingers.

The more I work on these, the more I appreciate having an impact handy for pesky bolts and nuts.

 

[ybhc]

PB Blaster works okay, about as good as anything else. You probably should have used an impact wrench, hammer, heat, and/or cold.

Place the end of an extension right on the bolt head, few whacks with a hammer on the other end often loosens it up. Follow up with an impact wrench, and it will usually spin right off without any risk to your fingers.

The more I work on these, the more I appreciate having an impact handy for pesky bolts and nuts.

PB Blaster is entirely inferior to liquid wrench and Kroil, or the mighty ATF/Acetone mix, along with some other less known ones.

 

[snakeman]

PB Blaster is entirely inferior to liquid wrench

How did you come to that conclusion? Did you do some empirical testing?

I grew up around Chicago/NW Indiana and come winter time, there is a ton of salt on the roads. Anytime you get under a vehicle that is more than a few years old, even the simplest tasks can become nightmarish due to badly rusted fasteners. I have spent a lot of time fighting rusted nuts andbolts.

You can use whatever penetrating oil you want, but IMO/experience, you can't expect a penetrating oil to fix cross threading or galling or rusted beyond recognition fasteners. Either get a bigger wrench, or a drill, or a sawzall.

 

[Sleepy]

It seems intimidating but it's really not that bad at all. Put up your location and maybe someone close could lend a hand if you need a wingman. Seriously, it's not bad, just really dirty. It's pretty easy to get everything apart. And there are awesome write-ups on here that walk you through it!
Do it!

I have to second that. My '95 needed the front end done and if I was going to keep the cruiser I knew it was time to learn to fix it. I did the front end with the help of Mud and a factory service manual. Also rebuilt the front brake calipers, all new brakes 100 series pads, the works up front. Before that project I hadn't performed any maintenance beyond fluid changes and hoses. Now I feel like I can fix about anything with the help of Mud.

 

[nmhunt]

It is amazing how many mechanic shops there are out there that do not do the work that they charge for. I have a couple places that I go when there are jobs that I cannot do, I am fortunate to have a couple places that I trust. I do quite a bit of work myself or with some help.... I like finding people that know how to do something that I do not and help them with the job, it sure makes it more interesting.

 

[GOOD4080]

I work at a dealer, I do whats on the repair order. I'm not a hack!!! And toyota penatrating lube works best.