Identifying an Oil Leak - Opinions Wanted

[89FourRunner]

My 4Runner has began leaking oil from where the tranny meets the engine. It leaks onto the oil pan a bit, onto the tranny and runs down to the pinion seal area (which is what I thought it was originally)...

The clutch fork is always wet with oil as well, which leads me to believe it may be the rear main seal. The clutch does not slip however. The clutch and flywheel are only a year old....I was just in there.......

Any other place the 3.0 V6 can leak that would cause oil to be on the rear of the oil pan by the plug, the tranny housing at the front, and the clutch fork area?

Before I buy a seal and remove the tranny, I would love to double check everything. Any tips? Leak spots?

Truck engine and drivetrain has 327,000 original miles on it...could be anything.

Last question: I bought a rear main seal from my toyota dealer once I discovered the leak. It cost me $58. A beck arnley seal cost $12. Worth using the toyota oem for the cost?

 

[91'4bee]

Put some leak dye in to be sure. Valve covers towards the back? Gravity sucks when oil is involved cause it goes everywhere and gets hard to pinpoint the source. When it comes to removing a lot of stuff to put a seal in...I would go with oem

 

[541joseph]

Go to napa and get an ATM or fel pro both are oem

 

[KidVermicious]

The clutch fork is always wet with oil as well, which leads me to believe it may be the rear main seal. The clutch does not slip however.

Yet.

Any oil on top of the bell housing behind the motor? If you don't have oil there and you do have oil inside the bell housing, it's the rear main, no question.

 

[89FourRunner]

Thanks for all the information. It was in fact the rear main.

I replaced the leaking one with an OEM Toyota rear main seal. The one that came out was a mess, it sort of just pooped itself out, it was one of those cloth lined ones - aftermarket and clearly not as good as the OEM. The new Toyota one went in nice and tight.

Luckily, the clutch material was nice and dry, and the oil was getting flung by the back of the flywheel, it didn't get to the clutch yet. It was a huge mess in there though. After hours of testing for leaks, it seems to be fixed.

The Toyota rear main seal cost me $56 but I consider it money well spent because I don't want to do the job again.

I replaced my PVC valve as well for cheap insurance - the valve and the grommet came out easily, my grommet didn't fall apart inside the valve cover or anything luckily.

The truck is leak free again. Phew.

 

[RiFF RaFF]

Thanks for all the information. It was in fact the rear main.

I replaced the leaking one with an OEM Toyota rear main seal. The one that came out was a mess, it sort of just pooped itself out, it was one of those cloth lined ones - aftermarket and clearly not as good as the OEM. The new Toyota one went in nice and tight.

Luckily, the clutch material was nice and dry, and the oil was getting flung by the back of the flywheel, it didn't get to the clutch yet. It was a huge mess in there though. After hours of testing for leaks, it seems to be fixed.

The Toyota rear main seal cost me $56 but I consider it money well spent because I don't want to do the job again.

I replaced my PVC valve as well for cheap insurance - the valve and the grommet came out easily, my grommet didn't fall apart inside the valve cover or anything luckily.

The truck is leak free again. Phew.

I'll bet you're glad you got that mess taken care of before winter!

:clap2: