Axle seal?

[DoctorJest]

About two months ago, I had the driver's side rear axle seal replaced; at the time, the mechanic forgot to replace the ABS sensor, which no longer works, but I'm just about done with this place anyway. I'm going to look up a new mechanic -- can't find a Toyota specific one where I am -- but I haven't found one I'll trust yet, and I'm trying to figure out how urgently I should look one up.

My question is about the fluid; I've never had axle seal problems before, so I don't know if I still have a problem.

Sometimes, but not always, I'll still see a small pool of dark liquid collected just inside the driver's side rear wheel; I've never actually seen a leak, and I've checked a couple of times, but here and there I see the liquid, and it still looks greasy around the inside of the wheel; I'm just not sure if this could be caused by anything other than an actual leak, and how long it should look that way after the repair is done.

Answers very welcome.

 

[purevenom1]

Have you checked the wheel cylinder for the brakes? Are you loosing brake fluid? Have you went and checked the fluid in the axle?

 

[99blackSE]

Have you checked the wheel cylinder for the brakes? Are you loosing brake fluid? Have you went and checked the fluid in the axle?

Agreed. Checking those two things is free and easy and will cut the down list at least.

 

[bigbsvo]

Mechanic VS Technician

About two months ago, I had the driver's side rear axle seal replaced; at the time, the mechanic forgot to replace the ABS sensor, which no longer works, but I'm just about done with this place anyway.

Have you talked to your mechanic about these issues? What kind of shop is it? Do the offer a warranty with the repairs? If not then you should look for a new mechanic, and by the way, we like to be called technicians now. We spend most of our time using computers to diagnose problems with cars unlike the old days using lab scopes an tach and dwell meters. LOL, old days.

Bryan

P.S.
Did you tell him to replace the abs sensor or are you assuming it should have been done because he was doing an axle seal? Be honest

 

[DoctorJest]

Have you talked to your mechanic about these issues? What kind of shop is it? Do the offer a warranty with the repairs? If not then you should look for a new mechanic, and by the way, we like to be called technicians now. We spend most of our time using computers to diagnose problems with cars unlike the old days using lab scopes an tach and dwell meters. LOL, old days.

Bryan

P.S.
Did you tell him to replace the abs sensor or are you assuming it should have been done because he was doing an axle seal? Be honest

Actually, the guy at the shop told me it should have been done -- the light wasn't on when I took it in, but it went on within about thirty seconds of me driving away, and the guy did apologise to me about it after I called. It's not the fact that it wasn't repaired that worried me; it's just that it's the latest in a line of things that should have been noticed, but weren't; or in this case, a missing thing that they told me that they usually do as standard for this sort of problem. I've grown tired of taking my car in, then having it come back out with a brand new fault...

In truth, we do like the guy who RUNS the place; but the staff he employs has changed over the last couple of years, and apart from him, I really think it's gone downhill there. That said, a friend of mine is a mechanic; he's usually busy and very tired lately, so I don't like to go to him and tie up his time, but I'm going to ask him to take a closer look at this. He's got about thirty years of experience ranging from planes to cars to amusement park rides, and I trust his judgement pretty well.

For me, I'm useless with this sort of thing, so we often trade off - he checks my car, I fix his computer when it goes wrong, and in the end we're all happy... But fluid checks I can handle, so thanks for the pointers on those; I'll take a look tomorrow.

 

[DoctorJest]

Oh - and no, they don't offer a warranty on the work, except for certain things. (And my friend calls himself a mechanic -- had no idea that the popular name had changed!)

 

[fourwd1]

If you can't tell if the leak is gear oil or brake fluid, pull off the wheel and see if the wheel cylinder is causing the leak and go from there. You don't need a computer to diagnose that, just a jack and lug wrench.