Front Diff Seals leaking again

frogeye · 02-17-2008, 07:54 PM

My passenger front diff seal started leaking again. Am I the only one with this problem? Lucky me. About 10k miles ago at 12000 or so my front diff seal on the passenger side started leaking fluids. I took it in and the dealer replaced both driver and passenger seals under warranty. At that time the technician told me it wasn't my lift causing the problem and that it was just bad seals. Well here I am 10 thousand miles later and my passenger side seal is leaking again.

My theory is that either the half shaft surface is out of round and causing damage to the seal, or, somehow the seal's OD is to small and not sealing properly. It took 10k miles to start to wear and leak again. What else could it be? Your thoughts?

[EDIT 042208]OR, My suspension was lifted too much and it was causing excessive wear on the top inner part of the seal. This would happen due to the suspension remaining in a constant droop. I had my suspension at about 3 inches and I like to wheel the rig. I'm starting to drink this coolaid and believe that the premature seal wear is caused by too much lift.[/EDIT]

I'm taking it in tomorrow and I trust that Toyota will look into my unique situation. Growing pains continue with my FJ but I still love it.

frogeye · 02-18-2008, 10:25 AM

Additional info:

I just got back from the dealer ( Toyota of El Cajon, CA ) driving my sweet rental (Nissan Sentra 2.0 in all white

). This is my thrid trip in for Warranty Work and Toyota of El Cajon, CA has provided me a rental car from Enterprise FOC every time.

Anyway, my Service Manager David Andersen ( great customer service ) told me that he has had a few other stock FJs come in for the same reason and that Toyota thought it might be bad seals. David then told me that I was the first person to come back in for the same problem on this. so yippeee for me! wooot. The problem came back only 14,000 miles down the road. David also said that this was not normal and that he would be filing a case number with Toyota. I told him how there are "others" that are having the same problem. How many of us on the blue forum like 4 or 5 right?

My parting goodbye to David was, "please make sure that you guys take the time to fix this problem and not slap on another set of seals." He said he'd take care of me. This is my Third Toyota in 20 years and I'm a very loyal customer. Even with all the little problems I've had, I still love this rig.

I hope to have more info later today.

**FJ FunJunkie** · 02-18-2008, 10:39 AM

Where does it show at? I suspect a leak too, My drivers side axle is got alot of dirt collecting right at the boot.

frogeye · 02-18-2008, 10:55 AM

Quote:

FJ FunJunkie previously said:

Where does it show at? I suspect a leak too, My drivers side axle is got alot of dirt collecting right at the boot.

Right here Junkie:

frogeye · 02-29-2008, 02:02 PM

[EDIT 042208] This is the part when I'm all pissed off [/EDIT]

[02-28-08]The dealer told me that Toyota said we won't cover it because you have after market suspension. They wouldn't even take it apart to inspect the seal or the half shaft.

I told them this was unacceptable and that they would have to prove that my suspension is causing the front diff seal to leak. I mentioned the Magnusen Moss Act. Dealer told me they would call me back (this all happened yesterday on 2-28-08) after I told them this was unacceptable. They called me back as promised and then said that some sort of rep would now be coming out to look at my vehicle. I told them they better look at the problem area instead of trying to get me to roll over. I'm awaiting info from the "specialist". How could I be the only person to have this problem twice?!? As you all are well aware of there are hundreds of lifted FJs including Dealer sold FJs out there that are not experiencing this problem. There is obviously something wrong with my diff or the half shaft that is causing the problem! Furthermore, the first time I took my vehicle in for this same problem the Toyota TECH said "your lift is not the reason for this problem" Also, my service adviser informed me that they have had some stock FJs come in with the same problem I'm experiencing.

Toyota is marketing this FJ as an Offroad vehicle and has the Trail Teams going around the country with lifted (spacer lifts) FJs saying look what it can do. Not to mention all the OFFROAD coverage on the website for this vehicle. They are selling fully lifted FJs with full warranties too. STAND BEHIND YOUR PRODUCT OR QUIT FALSELY ADVERTISING THE CAPABILITIES OF THIS VEHICLE!!!

I'm awaiting information from the "specialist" and the fate of my Toyota. Hopefully this will all be taken care of and the problem will be discovered. If not [EDIT][PISSEDOFTALK]Arbitration will happen[/PISSEDOFTALK][/EDIT].

rutherk1 · 02-29-2008, 02:23 PM

Do you have spring spacers?

**fatbrat40** · 02-29-2008, 02:23 PM

Good luck Frogeye..keep us posted..I'am going out to inspect my seals

frogeye · 02-29-2008, 05:04 PM

Quote:

rutherk1 previously said:

Do you have spring spacers?

No sir Walker Evans Coil Overs.

Quote:

fatbrat40 previously said:

Good luck Frogeye..keep us posted..I'am going out to inspect my seals

Ty

[UPDATE 2-29-08]

I just got off the phone with my dealer and they could not find any abnormalities with the Half shaft OD or the ID where the seal goes in the front diff. They are still saying that my lift has caused the premature breakdown of the upper part of the seal which might be from too much droop. They agreed to fix it one last time under warranty but told me that the lift is causing the problem.

I'm going to do two things:

1) lower my lift from 2.75 inches down to 2.5 in the front
and
2) Invest in some limiting straps to stop the WEs from drooping to much.

Hopefully this will end my premature diff seal failures. If the problem persists after the above mentioned modifications, I'm going to take it back and deal with this issue for the third time and learn how to replace the seals myself.

Check your seals people.

5280FJ · 02-29-2008, 05:36 PM

If this is the case, will you contact WE about the possibility their design is contributing to this? Has anyone else with WE had this problem? or anyone with other lifts?

**stringmachine** · 02-29-2008, 06:08 PM

i have the rough country 3 inch lift on mine. and i am taking it in tomorrow morning for them to replace the driversie seal. it is leaking. Toyota of knoxville took mine in last week and told me the seal needs replaced, and if they had one they would have replaced it. but they didn't. so i made an appointment for tomorrow at my local dealership. when i called them, they told me that this is not a known problem for the fj but they will check my leak out. so we will see. if they give me any gripe about my lift i will then ask them, why was knoxville toyota going to replace it under warranty.? Hello! i asked knoxville toyota about my lift. they said no it does not do anything to the warranty. hello again.. I will update you when my dealer gives me the final.. etc .