hypervish

Well looks like I've got the damn rear main seal issue. It's leaking synthetic motor oil about 3-4 drops. I did not notice this till today I was taking the car out of the garage and onto the driveway after the massive snow storm (15 inches). And notice the oil. It looked like it fell from the middle of the vehicle. But i am not sure if it's the rear main seal. I know what the rear main seal looks like thanks to all of your pictures on other threads. I will try and get the car on a lift this weekend and take a couple of pictures. I've owned the car almost 3 years now have not done anything to it except brakes and rotors as well as cabin air filter, oil + toyota filter every 3k, air filter, drain and fill tranny and differential (forgot to do the transfer case). I have service records online from Lexus ever since brand new. So I know it has been kept well maintained. I don't want to have to spend money on a new seal + labor. I am looking to Auto - RX once i can confirm it is definitely the rear main seal. Any other tips or suggestions? I really appreciate this forum and how helpful it has been to me and many others. Thanks in advance.

Sorry for the long post.

pauljcl

I feel for you. It happened to me close to 2 yrs. ago, on a 1999RX300 with 67K miles. I asked Lexus for help and they 'declined to assist'. You probably know this, but the way to determine if it is the rear seal is to wipe the seal well (while car is lifted) and see whether, within a minute or so, some drops begin forming. Prior to that stage, the seal 'looks wet'. -- Somewhere on Lexus owners Club, a long time ago, there had been a discussion of DIY repair.
http://www.lexusownersclub.com/
One post also mentioned the owner was going to try auto-rx, but did not give the result. Good luck!

98dohc

I'm at 146K, noticed some oil from that area the past weekend. Just hand a new tranny put in at 139K Is this a common problem? If so i wish i knew a few months ago. Could have had them replace the seal at the same time. Unless the morons over torqued the fly wheel and that caused it.

About auto-rx. It's your call. But the thought of breaking loose all the crud in the engine and sending it through the oiling system/bearing does not sound very safe.

hypervish

pauljcl- Is this the other post you were referring too http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums...rear+main+seal

Thanks for your help.

hypervish

Do any of you think it would be a good idea to replace the PCV valve?

Lexmex

PCV valve is cheap to replace, but can also be cleaned to an extent, but I think we'll have to take a look at your pictures first to get a better idea.

P.S. I bored out my PCV valve, not something I recommend on a stock vehicle, but now I don't need to worry as much about cleaning the damned thing.

hypervish

Thanks Lexmex, I will try to get the car up on a lift ASAP at my friends shop, and will take pictures as well as try to determine where the leak is coming from. I'm hoping it is just the rear valve cover because I'm not sure if it's the rear main seal either. Well only time will tell.

code58

98- I think if you do a search, or if you already have and have seen the pictures of the inside of a sludged engine and then in the course of an Auto-RX treatment or two, you'll notice that it DISSOLVES the crud, it doesn't break it loose to flow through your engine, the filter should catch all that it dissolves that would otherwise be harmful. I feel it is a miracle worker as compared to the other things that make big claims and don't live up to them. I also feel the reason it stops the RMS leak is because it softens the seal, as well as cleaning it of the virtual "cinder" that is baked on as a result of the high crankcase temps on there engines. I have pictures of my DIL's RMS when I replaced it and it is hard to comprehend anything getting that crusty without being "baked" long term in a high temp oven.
Truly a shame they didn't replace the seal when they had the tranny out, the seal doesn't cost much and there's not much work involved when the tranny is out. If you saw what the CS and the flex plate look like, I don't think there's any possibility of overtorqueing the bolts and causing any problem. Just high crankcase temps that do it. When the seal is replaced, ANYONE who does it should ALWAYS use fine emery paper on the CS seal surface because it gets grooved from the hard deposits and rock hard CS seal. It seals fine if it's cleaned, even though it's grooved.

hypervish

Okay, so I've been checking the oil everyday in the RX and I look underneath it everyday as well to look for any oil. Well there's no oil on the ground, and the oil dipstick shows full.

I wonder if this may have been my cause for the leak: I did an oil change prior to when I first saw the leak and filled up less than 5 quarts because it showed full on the dipstick. I used Pentosynth 5w-30 for that. I then used the rest of that to fill up another car which was a little low on oil. After I warmed the RX up for about 7 mins I let it cool down 10 and checked the oil it read a little under full. So I filled it up with some Mobil 1 0w-30, as I had just finished the other quart of PentoSynth.
So do you think the difference in viscosity and oil type may have sprung the leak and once all of the Mobil 1 leaked out it stopped. Sounds wack I know....but I'm just glad the leak stopped. Both oils are synthetic.

Sorry for the late update.

Lexmex

Not sure.

I do know that Pentosin Pentosynth (that's a very good oil) likes to play tricks like Castrol 0W30 (not sure about Mobil 1 0W30) and that sometimes I will see little oil on the stick, start it up a bit, and then check and all is normal. It seems to like to sit in the upper cylinder sometimes. Had the problem in Mexico and in Florida. I had friends in Mexico used that Pentosin oil and reported the same thing.

aejaz

I had similar leak..

I used the Liqui Moli Engine flush then added the oil saver with new oil
The leak vanished within 250-300 KM ..

The leak was very little though . Observed a drop or two when left parked for about 2 hours.
How I used it?

1. Before changing the oil, added the Liqui moli engine flush and left it for a while (Say 80-100 miles).

2. Changed oil and added the Liqui Moli oil saver..


Hope this helps

jevanof

I have the same issue, I am seeing a small leak a couple drops a day. I want to do the autorx but it says you cant use with with synthetic oil and I use mobile one.

does anyone know if Lucas works?

code58

My suggestion would be change the oil (if it is close to time) and use a good standard dino oil for the change or two that you're going to use the Auto RX. That won't hurt ANYTHING. Then go back to the synthetic when you're done with the treatment. I'm not much of a fan of Lucas. I would definitely stick with the A-RX if you want to soften the seal and stop the leak. Believe it or not, there are cheap cars and trucks that go 300-350k mi on no name dino oil. It won't hurt anything, not even your engines feelings!

jevanof

thank you code58
I will do that, any recommendations on an oil to use?
I used Valvoline before I used mobile one

hypervish

Penzoil Yellow Bottle.