Mwolfe

Ugh, sorry your dealing with that too. If you are referring to carrier bearing on the passenger CV axle, mine just had play you could physically feel when grabbing it by hand. Unfortunately, I don't think it was the problem I thought it was. A few weeks later, the leak came back again. At that point I had exhausted everything I knew to do. No Indy shop recommended replacing the Tcase. Which I appreciated their honesty. It was on its 2nd case from the previous owners and they were afraid of it being something in the transmission at that point, as these platforms don't usually have issues with the Tcase to begin with. Plus a vehicle with the miles ours had and the uncertainty, it wasn't financially wise to pay to drop the entire drivetrain, and separate it all to try. I ended up selling it to Carvana who auctioned it off eventually and it was sent of to Ukraine of all places.
So sorry to be the bearer of bad news in my reply, but I never succeeded in permanently fixing it. Keep us updated though if you can.

salimshah

The good thing is that you know the source of leak.

It is not unusual to find a leak after seal replacement. It would require disassembly and cleaning of the seal seat and the shaft. Do not go for after market or even suspect seller. Make sure the shaft is OEM too. The tolerance are pretty tight. During assembly one has to make sure the spring in the seal is not dislodged.

Refitting the once installed seal is also not going to solve a leak problem.

Salim

Salim

Non

Did you have a leak before you changed the cv axles?

One thing to check that is often overlooked is the vent. Every gearbox filled with oil must have a vent, to prevent pressure from building up inside the gearbox (when oil gets hot from driving). Sometimes on older vehicles, that vent gets clogged up, and if that happens no seal will stop the pressurized oil from leaking.
I don't know where the vent is located in your case, but there is one.

Tsteed

So had the cv axle replaced and same leaking occurred, so it wasnt the cv axles. This all started when replacing the axles in the first place, before that never had a single problem or leak at all? Not sure what to do, transmission seems fine never had an issue at all, my mechanic is going hunting for the next 10 days and says when he gets back he will take transfer case completely off and separate it to get a better look. Honestly have no idea, hopefully someone sees this and has been through it and has a fix?

Tsteed

The cv axles I bought to replace were “oem” from rockauto.com not actually from Lexus. However the seals that I had replaced we’re all from the Lexus dealership. No there was no leaking prior to cv axle replacement. They were replaced cause both were bad and making clicking/grinding noise which did stop when replaced. I need some ideas how to fix this….?

Tsteed

No leak prior to replacing cv axles, new axles we’re not from Lexus but rockauto.com. However seals that have since been replaced were directly from Lexus. I am hoping to find some nanswers here…

Tsteed

Are you referring to the cv axle shaft being oem?

Tsteed

I have a 2010 Lexus RX350 I’ve had for about 17 months bought it used with 174k miles. Car has been solid for me, I started hearing a click when in reverse and hit gas and also when in drive and gave it some gas, anyway replaced both cv axles with parts from rockauto.com and had them installed. The noise was gone and problem seemed fixed…. Until I noticed something leaking under the car. After further inspection I came to find out it was transfer case oil. Was told the internal seals in transfer case needed to be replaced, had all seals replaced and the leaking has continued….. I have no idea what to do and am really hoping someone sees this and can offer some help or information.

salimshah

Yes. If the aftermarket shaft is slightly below nominal or off round, you are bound to have a leak.

Sometimes it is better to live with a problem then trying to fix it ... I am only talking about small leaks.

Salim

Mwolfe

Is your mechanic familiar with these? I ask because you don't just take the transfer case off of these. It's a nightmare job, which is why I ended up getting out while I still could. It's a complete subframe/engine/trans drop to get it out. There are a few instances of people getting them out in vehicle, in the older generations, but even that was a terrible job. Best of luck, and let us know what you find out.

Tsteed

yes, it’s been a process he’s spent about 15 hours on this job so far, it sucks. I was told Toyota has a FIPG (seal packing) that your supposed to put on transfer case when reattached to transmission. If you don’t leaking will continue..? So we’ll see how that goes

afpj

Toyota likes to use these form in place gaskets which is basically a form of RTV sealant rather than preformed gaskets for places like oil pan, transmission to transfer case etc etc. The FIPGs seem to fail more than the regular preformed gaskets.. not very forgiving if technique is not exact... very annoying.