Oil Leaks and OPS - new owner follow up

[Scotty]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for all the great tips in response to my last post. I followed your advice and promptly filled up the gear oil in the transmission and transaxle. Indeed, they were quite low. Hopefully not too much damage was done. After filling them up, I wasn't terribly surprised that I've now got two pretty major gear oil leaks. I'm guessing they probably weren't leaking before due to being so low on oil. I was already planning on replacing the leaking valve cover gasket, but I'm guessing these two aren't going to be much fun. They are a pretty high priority though as I'm using the Tercel for my lawn care business and I can't have it leaking that much out in front of my clients homes - a drop or two is to be expected but these are some pretty substantial leaks.

Tomorrow I'm planning on washing everything off with a power sprayer and then putting it up on jack stands to get a better look. Any tips on what seals to look for? I know both of these larger leaks are gear oil and are possibly related to the burnt gear oil smell I've got going.

Also, I tested the oil pressure switch and sure enough the light goes on/off depending on whether the wire is grounded. Any tips on getting that sensor out? The new one has a 24mm body on it, but the one in there looks like the rounded type and I'm having a hell of a time getting to it. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Scotty

[dlb]

the oil pressure sender shouldn't be rounded. clean it off really well to get a good look and if someone has rounded it all off, put some really big vice grips on there as tight as all hell and give it a go.

i've had to replace the CV seals and rear tailshaft housing seal on my daily driver due to leaks. to do the CV seals, just jack up one side so all the gear oil rests on the opposite side, remove the CV (undo the big nut before you jack it up), carefully pry the old seal out with one or two flat head screwdrivers, and tap the new one in using a large socket. be sure to measure the depth of the old one before putting the new one in because they are not meant to butt up against the ridge behind them. mine kept leaking after putting it in so i pulled the CV and the seal several times, putting it back in and carefully re-measuring it. kept leaking so finally i just bought another one to see if that would work, and it did! first part i've bought that was bad right out of the box.

i also posted a thread on replacing the rear tailshaft housing seal here:

https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6388

[tercel4wdrules]

Another source of a leak can be the 4WD selector shaft seal. I have not had any experience on replacing this seal yet, but I've heard it's not too bad. Usually the extension housing seal (the one on the rear output) is one of the sources of the biggest leaks on these transmissions. If you replace the extension housing seal and it continues to leak at some point from the same area, then perhaps there's a problem with the driveshaft itself. There's information about where to get a rebuilt one somewhere on the forums.

[marlinh]

I just replaced front axle seals this weekend and if you drive the seal in till the outer surface is flush with the end of the chamfer on the housing that is the proper depth. Polishing the seal surface on the axle helps too. If there are any grooves on the axle it will leak. Most oil pressure sending units require a special socket or wrench for removal. Just another tool one needs in their arsenal. Vice grips are a last resort because if it damages the part then removal is that much harder.

[ARCHINSTL]

Check out these links on the 4WD selector leaking and the tailshaft housing seal replacenent (some links in the threads as well):
https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php? ... aft#p47591
https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php? ... aft#p47591
and https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6446
Member dlb has some good pictorials on the topics in the above threads.
Tom M.

[Jarf]

I have seen lots of round OP senders but they will have a formed nut on the underside (12mm?) of the sensor, just above the threads, that you can access with a wrench.

While your checking for gear oil leaks, also be a good idea to check the rear diff condition and level as a leaking rear pinion seal can sling G-oil onto the exhaust and rear floor boards but it is probably going to be fr diff side seals.
On the upside, being so thick and stinky, it is usually pretty easy to tell where it is coming from.

[Scotty]

Well after lots of scraping and scrubbing, I finally got enough nastiness off the the drivetrain to be able to see what was leaking. It's funny how just cleaning parts makes it so much easier to understand how they work. I was pleased to see that it looks like I only have one leak; where the passenger side cv axle meets up with the front diff. With oil being flung out of there and onto the exhaust that would explain both the burning gear oil smell and why it looked like there were two leaks.

I noticed that both axles have some play coming out of the diff. They seemed to have about the same amount of play, but only the passenger side is leaking. Is a little bit of play normal? I'd hate to replace the seal only to find that something else is wrong.

As a side note, I found a whole host of random parts in the depths of the grease and grime - bearings, cotter pin, nuts, and a bolt but nothing quite as exciting (or valuable) as my 17 mm wrench that I got from the engine guard on my '72 Ford Courier.