I'll start out by saying I'm not too knowledgeable when it comes to vehicles so please be patient with me. Last Friday I took my 1998 SR5 out of town for Christmas. It was a 3 hour drive from where I live. On the way home on Sunday it was snowing a ton and roads were icy. It took us about 5 hours to get home. Well for about 4 hours I had it in 4 High cruising about 35-40mph. When I pulled in my garage I noticed that it smelled hot! It wasn't the normal warm engine smell that I am used to with my 4Runner. I can't really describe the smell as I have never encountered it in my life. I checked to see if I had any leaks or anything and I didn't see a thing. I took it out Monday morning for a car wash to get all the road grime off. I didn't notice the smell or see any puddles (I'm a little paranoid to get oil spots on my clean garage floor) when I got home. Well tonight when I got home from work I noticed there was a ton of oil on the garage floor. So I looked under my 4Runner and the whole undercarriage is covered in oil. What could possibly be wrong with my truck? I just had the Clutch kit and water pump/timing belt done, so I'm worried that I'll have to dump more money into it. The first picture I attached in where I am assuming the oil is originating from moving towards the back of my 4Runner.
The whole underside of my 4Runner is covered in oil!
- Thread starter JonBs
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LittleCaesar
New member
Looks like your R150 transmission is leaking from somewhere up top, pushing its way onto the transfer case, though the latter may be the culprit.
FrankieJoe14
New member
What does the steering rack look like? I have a similar leak from mine that is tossing oil all over the bottom of the transfer case.
It can be hard to pin down where the oil is coming from after doing a lot of highway driving. The oil droplets blow everywhere. In general, keep going forward and upward until you find dryness, though.
Is the engine dry? It seems like there is a mild epidemic of leaking valve covers now that the engines are hitting 20 years of age.
When they put the clutch in, the trans would have been pulled. Did they change the trans oil then, and possibly overfill it? Did they change the rear main seal on the motor and possibly screw that up (look at the small weep hole at the bottom of the bellhousing).
Is the engine dry? It seems like there is a mild epidemic of leaking valve covers now that the engines are hitting 20 years of age.
When they put the clutch in, the trans would have been pulled. Did they change the trans oil then, and possibly overfill it? Did they change the rear main seal on the motor and possibly screw that up (look at the small weep hole at the bottom of the bellhousing).
weekendclimber
New member
I had an issue with after I had a shop do diff fluid changes. They apparently didn't put a new crush washer, nor torque the fill plug on my front diff and it leak gear oil all over. This could be the explanation since this only started to occur once you used your 4wd. Also, gear oil smells really funky. Here's what mine looked like with the drip:
From the front, looking towards the back (click to enlarge)
From the front, looking towards the back (click to enlarge)
gamefreakgc
Elite Member
Here's my thoughts (that's all they are since I can't see the vehicle)
1. If it's gear oil from your transfer case it'll smell like someone blended a squirrel, let it ferment for a couple of years, and poured it on your 4Runner. Can't miss the smell.
2. Valve covers will leak more the hotter the engine gets, very common leak spot. You can't always see it from the top of the engine and the oil gets EVERYWHERE. I mean EVERYWHERE. Could also be a leaking rear main seal, but I hope not.
3. Transmission oil is red, so yeah that should be obvious.
4. Power steering fluid is a hard one to figure out, it looks and smells a lot like engine oil. Only way is to clean it all up and see where it comes from again. This is the worst case scenario, a leaking steering rack means its days are limited. Though stop leak did work for me for a while.
1. If it's gear oil from your transfer case it'll smell like someone blended a squirrel, let it ferment for a couple of years, and poured it on your 4Runner. Can't miss the smell.
2. Valve covers will leak more the hotter the engine gets, very common leak spot. You can't always see it from the top of the engine and the oil gets EVERYWHERE. I mean EVERYWHERE. Could also be a leaking rear main seal, but I hope not.
3. Transmission oil is red, so yeah that should be obvious.
4. Power steering fluid is a hard one to figure out, it looks and smells a lot like engine oil. Only way is to clean it all up and see where it comes from again. This is the worst case scenario, a leaking steering rack means its days are limited. Though stop leak did work for me for a while.
4runnerNick
New member
I just changed out steering and sway bar bushing on my 97 and the skid plated where covered in layers of oil and dirt. I hadn't looked at it prior to this and have not had issues with oil changes when I change the oil or any areas in driveway that would indicate a leak. The top and bottom of the steering rack were also covered in dirt and oil along with areas around it. Putting skid plate back on today so time will tell where a leak would be coming from. How much does a new steering rack cost?
gamefreakgc
Elite Member
Make sure it's not your valve covers first. If the sides of the engine are coated in oil then it's not your steering rack, they usually leak from the boots and do not get any oil on the top of the rack.
The best price I could find online was just under $600, that's with no labor and assuming you have all the tool to do it. There's a few bolts that are torqued close to 200 lbs/ft.
Automatic trans fluid will be red, but the manual trans lube may or may not be red. Usually not. The GL-5 does have a nasty, sulfurous odor that only gets more acrid when cooked.
A previous T4R, a '96 with the manual trans, had a leak when I purchased it used. The PO had a new clutch installed prior to sale. The tech doing the work took the difficult path when removing the 4wd gearshift to facilitate transmission removal. Instead of just removing the lever at its base, they removed the stacked cover on the trans case that houses the shifter base. There are springs within this assembly that locate the lever in the proper gate when shifting which like to jump out of place and get caught between the stacked pieces on re-assembly causing the leak.
Inspection can be made by removing the shifter boot/console and observing any leakage from inside the cabin. I found it impossible to get a good view of it from below.
Good luck!
gamefreakgc
Elite Member
My bad, I missed that it was a manual. You are right, it is not always red, and if the fluid is older it will probably not be red at all.
St Runner
Member
To the PO I would say valve cover gaskets. It happened to the transmission I pulled for my swap at 120,000 miles and my friends tacoma with 40,000 miles (not a typo). The oil comes off the back of the engine via poor gaskets and goes through the top of the bell housing( there are vent holes above the clutch) and out the bottom. Ruins the clutch disk. Even if it looks like it is coming out where the main seal is it could be coming from above there
Assuming yours is 5speed. Pop the trim around the shifter inside. Remove the rubber and look around your shifter. Most likely its leaking from the shifter and dripping down. Happened to me. Had to replace the gasket between the shifter and the transmission. Tcase has one to. I never heard these transmission or transfer cases to leak in between. Which is sealed with Toyota red silicone
mikeswapp12
New member
98 4runner l oil leak underside
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