gobble

I noticed over the weekend that transmission fluid was leaking and found this when I looked under the car. It's hard to tell where the fluid is coming from but it looks to be dripping from between the metal housing near the transmission pan and that piece of aluminum bolted to it. Has anyone else had a similar leak?

I got stuck in the snow over the weekend and had to do a lot of back and forth spinning the wheels to get out. I'm guessing this started the problem. Didn't hit anything though.

AlexusAnja

Is that the transfer case housing? Whatever it is, that's a pretty big leak it seems. Atleast the fluid looks clean.

thomas1

I suspect it is the torque converter seal. Bad news because the tranny has to be removed to get to it. I had something like that and it was radiator fluid. (toyota red)and turned out being a intake manifold leak on the water jacket. it flows down the block and ends up in the same area.

Lexmex

Go see this thread from a few years ago and you'll see the seal,

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...went-bump.html

I assumed you wiped the area clean and it's still leaking.

gobble

Yep, wiped it clean and it comes right back. Sounds expensive.

thomas1

Seal is cheap, the labor to remove tranny is expensive. around $1600

Fern

Hey,
you've got rear main seal leak. Try Toyota for price of repair seal $100 labour $800.

gobble

I read through your thread. Do you really need to remove the engine to fix a transmission leak like I have?

Lexmex

No, just the tranny.

salimshah

Why not keep an eye on the leak and keep adding as needed. To me the leak is so small that it is not worth tearing it up to fix it.

Salim

SChema

iTrader: (2)

That's not a rear main leak, the fluid looks like transmission fluid or Toyota "red" coolant; judging from the viscosity, more than likely it's transmission fluid. Could be torque converter seal or front pump seal; either one is going to be expensive. Hopefully everything works out.

code58

My suggestion is to replace the rear main seal while they have the trans. out (if you decide to have the trans. seal replaced). The rear main seal doesn't run much money and it SHOULDN'T cost much for them to replace it while they have the trans out. It's easy to get to and not much work to replace it, the labor is removing and replacing the trans. The seals and install of them doesn't account for much of the total cost at all. Shouldn't cost more than $100. for the rear main seal and install labor. Even if it isn't leaking, unless you have recently replaced it, it's the best money you'll ever spend. It'll save you about $1000.-$1500. later if it should need replacing. When I replaced the rear main seal in my DIL's RX, the parts guy asked about the torque convertor seal and said it would be a good idea to replace it while the engine was out. It wasn't leaking but I'm glad he mentioned it, I wouldn't have thought about it and it was an easy and cheap part to replace, as insurance.

gobble

Does anyone have a feel for how much effort it would be to remove the transmission and replace the seal? Can I do it on my own if I'm mechanical? Any special tools needed? I have a lift in my garage which would come in handy. I'm looking to sell the car but don't want to sell it with a leaky transmission.

Lexmex

It's a major PITA. When I had to do this job with my uncle, we actually took the transmission to get looked at once it was out of the vehicle and his friend found a cracked pump and also a cracked flywheel (on otherside of tranny next to torque converter). Merely replacing the pump may not eliminate the issue because there might be other things going on inside the tranny, not just the seal.

crldz

@gobble How this ended up? It seems I have similar issue (exact same leak place) in RX gen 3 but it is just "sweaty" - not dripping