Sounds good. I ordered the o ring and will give a shot at it this weekend.

 

Did you end up getting this fixed last weekend? Any issues with it?

 

I actually ended up doing it today. My actuator didnt have that long rod at all I just went ahead and replaced the one o ring with the part number listed in this thread. I'm not sure if my leak will be fixed since my actuator itself looks different from the diagram. Time will tell.

 

Thanks for all the input! Have a 2004 GX470, leaking, ordered the O Ring as recommended. Don't have the cash right now to take it to the dealer, so, since I can change my oil, I'm going to try and tackle this myself. I just hope I don't take apart the wrong things or my wife will lose her drive and I'll never hear the end of it.

I would really appreciate it if someone could take a photo of the 3 bolts that I should unscrew and provide as much detail as possible regarding the whole process. Not real mechanical, but I did just get my wood chipper (bought it used a couple weeks ago) running yesterday by cleaning the varnish from the carb...felt pretty proud of myself...hope to keep the streak going with the GX470 repair. Also, what kind and where do you get the fluid to replace what has leaked out and where does it go? When I take out the 3 bolts will the rest of the fluid drain out? THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR HELP!

 

I do not have any photos of all of the bolts, but you can see 2 of the three in the first picture of this post. The third is on the top and you will have to feel for it. You will need to disconnect the wire harness on the top drivers side of the actuator. It is not seen in the picture, but is the only one.

Jiggle the black part off and watch out for the metal stick that is in it. The metal stick may stay inside the transfer case or it may come out with the actuator. No big deal either way. Once you replace the seal, jiggle the thing back together.

To fill the thing back up, will use the large bold to right (passengers side) You can get the fluid from the your local parts store. Make sure it is "Toyota World Standard," or "Toyota WS." It will say it on the back of the bottle.

Fill it up until you can stick your pinky and just barely feel it 1mm below overflowing.

Post back if you have any questions.

 

Definitely worth taking to the dealership to be looked at.

 

Nbeihl...thanks for the response...just got O ring in and went to get fluid at Advanced Auto Parts...guy sold me Mobile One tranny fluid ($8 a quart), but I'm in doubt that that's the right stuff...do I ask for gear fluid...just don't want to put the wrong goop in...thanks in advance for your response and will keep you posted on my progress!

 

I believe it is a GL-5 gear lube for the transfer case, 80w-90 is OEM but you can probably use 75w-90 or 75w-110, preferably synthetic

 

Here is the info you will need.

The first .pdf is how to top off the transfer case, and the second is what tools are needed to rebuild the transfer case. You can see what kind of fluid you will need on the second page. (API GL-5 / SAE 75W-90)

I did not have to top off my transfer case. I had very little fluid loss when I did this project. Only a few drops.

 

Hi - I have a 2003 with the same problem Dealer quoted me $1,800 for a "reseal". Subsequent complaint to Lexus got me all of a $350 discount. So, I've followed your advice and done the "o" ring replacement but I am not 100% sure it solved the leak. Did it work for you?

 

It has been about 2 years and about 35k miles since I replaced the O-ring. I just crawled under the car tonight to check it out. There has not been one drop of fluid on my garage floor, but the area around where I replaced the seal is a little dirty as if there has been a super small leak. I checked the fluid level and it was slightly low. I added about 2 pumps of oil and the level was back to normal. I would say that is not bad, seeing that I have never seen a drop of fluid under the car since the fix.

I have been using Mobil One Synthetic 75W-90

 

Have you tried shifting between low and high four wheel drive after the o-ring replacement. I had heard some issues that the actuator cannot be placed back on that simply because the gears could get out of sync and then when you shift between low and high, there could be problems. I have read many posts where people did this job with just the actuator removal which sounds good, but i want to confirm that people have also had no problems with shifting from low to high in 4-wheel drive after the job. i just cannot understand why Lexus would specify a full transfer case removal for this job unless there is some small detail with the actuator that is not being considered when doing the simple removal of the actuator approach?? thanks for any info

 

Check this thread over at ih8mud for more info on this problem.

http://forum.ih8mud.com/120-series-t...se-leak-3.html

 

from post #43 reference, here is what someone said on another site about this method . so it appears that the issue is not re-syncying once you install the actuator again, but that you could damage the internal seal ring (not the leaking o-ring) which will then result in the actuator filling up with oil. So you solve one problem but create another. curious if anyone has confirmation of this

from other post:

" also worked for Lexus for 20years and watched guys use this method to beat the warrany book time. As a result of popping the actuator out leaving the shaft in the transfer case the worm gear part of the shaft tears the lip on the seal when prying the actuator out.
As a result gear oil fills up the actuator motor.
Proper way is to disassemble transfer case and release actuator shaft from inside the transfer case.
I have experemented with releasing the shaft from within the motor itself, but this is very tricky due to there is a position switch inside the actuator that has to be timed correctly whe reinserting the shaft into the actuator.

 

As I understand it, this how the dealer "Master Techs" do the repair. (Per Dan Kunz at ih8mud.com)

EDIT: No, I guess that's NOT how the Master Techs do it. Check the latest at ih8mud.