Fern

Need some input.

About 2000 km ago the transmission on my '99 was overhauled and now I notice about 2-3 drops under the vehicle when the engine is shut off. The car now has 140,000km and never leaked one drop until now. Even when I had trani issues it never leaked.

Here is a pic of the area where there seams to be a drip of engine oil falling off always.

I have used Ederny's pic of the undercarriage and highlighted the problem area on my car. I haven't had a chance to take a pic of my own vehicle yet.

Lexmex

I tried to upload a picture that would help, but for some reason I keep getting an error even though my pictures are within the limits.

When they installed your new transmission, there is a sealant that goes there. My uncle has seen this countless times along with his transmission buddy down the street (and always a deal foul-up) and they have to basically reseal the area to get it to work. My uncle charges about $80 USD to do it so it does not leak.

Fern

Lexmex,

I need your help.

Please elaborate on the nature of the sealant.

I am taking the car in to Toyota tomorrow where the trani was overhauled and don't want them to give me some song and dance that its not related to the work they did.

I guess your positive this is an area which would be opened up for the trani removal.

By chance this is not the area associated with rear main seal is it?

Lexmex

Still can't get the photo up. Yes, that area you showed is associated with a rear seal area.

There is a sealant that is used (after mating the transmission) to the engine block upon replacement. That sealant can (about 25% of the time according to my uncle's experience) find a way to leak, though usually it is with the tranny fluid further near to the front differential.

Now, I can't be exact since I have never seen the division on the tranny replacement with an RX, but going by similar things I have seen when my uncle mates it to an engine block, this appears close enough that it may be one of the sealed areas (I looked in the service manual, but very difficult to tell since I can only see on the right side of the tranny, not close enough to the area shown.

Fern

Leak confirmed by Toyota tech as 99% probability that rear main seal is the culprit.

My problem now is he didn't mention the rear main seal replacement would have cost an additional $150 or obviously I would have requested it's replacement.

Now the cost is $1000+ I'm pissed and waiting for service manager to call me back with explanation.

Nothing on work order about customer declined rear main seal replacement or price to do same.

salimshah

The joint that is leaking is supposed to keep the dust out. If does not contain oil behind it.

So the main seal is leaking oil into the housing and from there it is dripping out.

As the transmission is removed and re-installed, unavoidably the shaft gets stressed. Some of the stress is transferred to the oil seal and if old it may not jump back to its orignal shape.

I for one should have reminded you when you mentioned transmission overhaul. So should have your mechanic. [more so if they have been doing transmission overhauls]. There is always collateral damage during repairs. Most is glossed over by shops [one advantage of DIY]. This should have been some what obvious, knowing the age of the seal.

Can you live with the leak? [Only if you carry a quart and check every week]
Additives to expand the seal? [check side affects]
What else the bozos break/miss in the next go around.
Toyota dealership has worked with you on trans overhaul, give them a chance to come up with a proposal.
Cross check seal replacement cost at Lexus dealership or independant.
If you do opt for a new place of repair, keep in mind the possible finger pointing after the fact.


Salim
Monday morning quarter-backing

Fern

Thanks Salimshah for the input.

The rear main seal area was discussed and my whole area of contention is that the cost ($150) was not brought to my attention or that collateral damage may occur due to stress when working on the trani in this area.

This I feel puts some onus on the part of the dealership to at least put in writing the the customer declined rear main seal at that point.

Waiting for servicemanager to come in to discuss this with him.

Lexmex

As my uncle mentioned, it does occur and the dealers down here will do anything to avoid blame. Very easy here to claim that bad roads sprung a leak. All they have to do is bust one of your shocks while you aren't looking. A friend of mine had that happen at Seat dealership here.

Now, this isn't quite the same area, but this is also a leak prone area you will want to check for ATF leaking. See the sealant. If this is not done right on a tranny reinstall, leaking ATF.

Salim is right that stress of a reinstall can cause issues with that rear main seal.

I also know that sometime coolant hoses (after years of not being touched since the factory), when removed then one attempt to put them back on will cause leaks since the clamps have been used to a certain condition for years and are not able to adjust afterwards.

Fern

Dealership service manager is not willing to do anything other than 15% of labour and parts... BFD!

So I'm still out $800 for repairs that should have been forecasted by tech due to the location and the fact that he was in its proximity at the time of the overhaul.

Sucks,

as much as I'm trying not to, I think this car has turned into a POS.

I have had more hastles with this car since I owned it than any other car I have ever had

Lexmex

In hindsight, even if you could have seen the future and knew this was going to happen, they are still going to fix it the way they are going to fix it. Moreover, how do you prove they did it. I am on your side here, but looking at the way dealers down here treat people like scum (much more overtly than in Canada/U.S. often with profanity (I had a somewhat recent experience) just for picking up parts.

It's too bad we can't teleport your RX300 down here or my uncle could get up there to work on it.

One additive we use here is one called Auto-RX (available in the U.S. for sure, http://www.auto-rx.com/pages/sealleak.htm that can help seal but not in every case from my Uncle's experience. I also have found Restore oil additive, http://www.restoreusa.com/ helped in a few cases. I can't be the judge, but I can tell you for all the nasty and nutty things I do with my RX, no leaks...yet.

salimshah

During the forced mate process, the transmission is angled and inevitably the trans-end is left hanging on the shaft. Then it is lifted and wiggled on the shaft (splines are aligned by force). All this time the shaft is made to carry part of the trans weight till the bolts are put in place.

Leaky seal is not that un-common problem and some time back some one posted that a mechanic at certain dealership knows how to replace the seal in less time [much less than the book time]. I envision that to be a partial dismount of the transmission.

The choices are

1. Sell
2. Repair
3. Playing with different weights of oil
4. Living with the drip
5. Additives


I would suggest 3 and 4 and postpone repairs. Not that I wish this on you, but there just might be further transmission problems that may need to be covered under 1yr warranty period. (mixed blessing)

If i was a betting person, odds are that you will opt for 1 or 2.

Salim

Lexmex

I use a part 0W40 and a 5W30. Now for a younger engine, you won't need it, but I can tell you that for what I do with my RX, my altitude (engine works harder), the oil can over time gets broken down, literally sheared to a lower weight. I haven't had leaking but then again I change my oil a little more often.

Fern

Salim,
I am enclined to take option 2 as the following:

Just put new Cross Terrains on vehicle,
Had the transmission overhauled
Put new brakes all around,
Had the sparkplugs changed...

I have no other option at this point but to keep and have repaired...

I don't like coming onto Lexus forums and badmouthing the product, but holy *%$# give me a break...

Somehow this has turned out to be the highest maintenance vehicle I have ever owned... more so than Chrysler, BMW, GM, etc...

$6000+ in maintenance and repairs in last 6 months

Fern

$921 total cost to replace rear main seal with 15% discount included.

Includes allignment and new synthetic oil change.

Well guess I'm hanging on to it until the warranty expires, then "asta la vista baby"!

Sad to say but,
Moving on....

toy4two

what happend to the tranny?

Stop shifting? how many miles? AWD? How often did you change the ATF?