Manual Tranny leaking, changed seals.. leak persists Options

[samir0189]

Hey guys, So i've recently had my axles changed. At first, i didnt have the seals changed, but gear oil was POURING out. So I went to Toyota and got the seal. Put it in, tranny still leaks from the drivers side. What could be the issue now?

And, has anyone used Lucas transmission fix? Lucas trans fix

I read alot of good things about it and it claims to stop leaks. Worth a try? Can it do damage?

The mechanic has had this axle out THREE times to find this leak and it still drives me nuts. Its quite a bit of oil too, not a minor drip.

Any input is appreciated!!! Thanks!!

[Remy]

Pouring out where ?? Axle seals are cheap at the auto stores if it started pouring out when you started the car then you installed the axles wrong its probably not all the way in the tranny.

[samir0189]

No it was pouring out the first time, before i got the new seal from toyota, p/n 90311-35019. Now its heavily leaking from the driver side seal it appears, a pretty large spot on my garage floor, about 1 square foot puddle. I dunno how to tell if the axle is all the way in...

[Remy]

No it was pouring out the first time, before i got the new seal from toyota, p/n 90311-35019. Now its heavily leaking from the driver side seal it appears, a pretty large spot on my garage floor, about 1 square foot puddle. I dunno how to tell if the axle is all the way in...

Was that before you started the car or after when it started leaking ?? When your installing the driver side axle you should hear this "click" when your putting it back into the tranny.

This post has been edited by Remy: Dec 16, 2008 - 11:01 PM

[samir0189]

I didn't do it myself, I had a private mechanic take care of it for me, I was standing right there at the moment when he was doing it though. He pushed it in til it clicked and tried to pull it back out and it didnt budge so i GUESS its in there well, but i cant say for sure.

BUT when i got the new seal installed, it wasnt leaking at ALL. Now as time is passing (its been about 3 weeks since i had the axles done) the leak came back and it seems to be getting worse.

[Remy]

Maybe its a faulty axle seal your gonna have to take it apart and inspect the grooves at the end of the axle to make sure they're not damaged or chipped and take a look at the transmission where the axle goes into it also has grooves too make sure they're still intact and make sure your axle seal is still good and don't drive your car if its leaking really bad your axle could of came loose too, oh and don't use those stop leaks they won't do any good for you in this case.

[samir0189]

OH! maybe thats a possibility if the axle can come loose like that, then it would explain the leak returning! HAH!

I was beating myself up over it, cause I KNOW theres a branddd new seal in there so i was looking through part diagrams and trying to figure out if there was something i was missing, but if its only that seal and the axle then somethings gotta be screwy in there. Thanks for your help Remy, Ill post an update soon when I can check it further. Probably in the morning.

[808celica]

maybe while putting the axle back on he damaged the seal?? i changed my seals myself with help from family. i carefully installed the axle and once it was in i didnt "try" to pull it out.

.......how did he put in the seal and the axle??? did he use something that would evenly distribute "pushing" force on the seal??? there is also a spring on the inside of each seal.....

This post has been edited by 808celica: Dec 17, 2008 - 3:48 AM

[njccmd2002]

my toyota guy mechanic told me the axle needs to be polished. It happened to me. with time the rubber deposits on the axle and burns the new seal and makes it leak.

They polis the axle with like 1000grit or something. the axle has to be very clean.

[GriffGirl]

^ IDK about polishing it, but it totally stands to reason that if the axle was gritty when it was popped back in, that it wouldn't sit flush with the seal and would thus leak.

Take your car back to the guy who did the work and have him fix it - if it's the axle seal like it sounds like it is, he should have no problem making it right since clearly something was done wrong or overlooked in the first place.

[samir0189]

maybe while putting the axle back on he damaged the seal?? i changed my seals myself with help from family. i carefully installed the axle and once it was in i didnt "try" to pull it out.

.......how did he put in the seal and the axle??? did he use something that would evenly distribute "pushing" force on the seal??? there is also a spring on the inside of each seal.....

I guess its possible he could have damaged the seal when putting it back in, im sure its easy to bend/fold/crease the rubber seal when putting in the axle. He just used his hand to push it in, didn't use any tool to push in on it. So maybe its just not "in" there. The spring was there, i saw it on the new one.

my toyota guy mechanic told me the axle needs to be polished. It happened to me. with time the rubber deposits on the axle and burns the new seal and makes it leak.

They polis the axle with like 1000grit or something. the axle has to be very clean.

Thats interesting. He didn't clean it with anything, and each time he took it out he just put it down somewhere, didn't put it in a clean area or anything. so maybe....

^ IDK about polishing it, but it totally stands to reason that if the axle was gritty when it was popped back in, that it wouldn't sit flush with the seal and would thus leak.

Take your car back to the guy who did the work and have him fix it - if it's the axle seal like it sounds like it is, he should have no problem making it right since clearly something was done wrong or overlooked in the first place.

YUP thats what its looking like im gonna do Griff. Whatever it is now, it IS his fault cause i got the new seal he said I needed, so whether the axle is dirty or seal not pushed in good or whatever, its all his fault.

Thanks for your help everyone. You guys remind me of why i first loved the 6gc community...

[samir0189]

So i finally got around to taking a closer look at this leak, its been a slow one, but today as i was about to drive out of the garage, there was a HUGE puddle. So i decided it was time to have a GOOD look. Instead of going back to the mechanic i paid, I decided I was gonna do this myself, you know the whole, if you want something done right, do it yourself thing. I really get tired of mechanics and their crap.

I managed to get the axle off! Big for me, an amateur. I looked closely at the seal and it was not damaged, but while trying to get it out i ripped it. Oh well. I'll get a new one.

Is it possible the axle could have been like misshapen or something that it would cause this leak again? The axle seemed pretty darn clean when i took it out, so I don't know what could have caused this. The seal wasn't pinched or anything.

Currently the car is on a jack stand and I am going to NAPA and toyota tomorrow morning to get another axle and a new seal.

Anybody got any ideas or tips for putting this back together so I can kill this leak for good? What weight gear oil are we supposed to use also?

[njccmd2002]

get oem seal

[samir0189]

get oem seal

lol, learned that lesson already. Surprisingly, all the auto parts stores have the wrong seal associated with this car. Every store (napa, auto zone, advance auto, pep boys, ....) i went to had the identical seal, they were all too big to even fit in the hole ..

SO this seal I just busted was OEM. And the next will be too.. there's no other option.