My leaking tercel

[cromagmom]

I'm about to make a big move in a month in my tercel and my car seems to be slowly crapping out. There are two main areas of concern:

Power steering went out
About a week ago my power steering seemed to stop functioning. I know a lot of you have deleted this, but I haven't enjoyed the virtual non-power steering. I've had a little bit of stop leak, though hardly any because I'm not getting pools of oil when I turn. Just a little leak behind the pulley



The stop leak hasn't improved anything, but the levels in the reservoir aren't really dropping a lot. I bought a gates 350870 pump seal kit and am thinking about pulling it and replacing what seals I can.

Leaking transfer case

I'm getting a decent amount of leakage from the rear of my transmission. I had a shop replace the clutch about 1.5 years ago and have noticed this problem within the past 6 months or so. Some from what I may be incorrectly IDing as the 4wd Shift Lever and some on the area where the drive shaft goes into the transmission (1st picture below, kinda looks like condensation but is definitely oil )





I imagine I can deal with the power steering myself before I have to leave. The tranny stuff has me a bit concerned. Are these seals I can fix with the case still on? Or do I need to remove the transfer case or full tranny?

[helipilot77]

They are both most likely just oil seals that have dried and cracked. The one on the power steering pump might be a bit of a challenge to replace without pulling it out, simply because the pulley will need to come off to replace it.
I would say pull the pump, remove the pulley then using a couple sharp point screws driven into the metal in the seal, pull it out with some pliers. Then a new one can be driven in place, the pulley reinstalled, pump reinstalled, belts tightened, and fluid topped off.
For the transmission you will want to drain the oil so it doesn't spill out when the propeller shaft is removed. Undo the four bolts at the flange just behind the propeller shaft carrier bearing. Also remove the two bolts holding the carrier bearing to the chassis then the shaft should slide right out of the back end of the transmission. A new seal should be able to be installed using the same method as on the power steering pump. And a new one driven in. Reinstall the propeller shaft and topping up the oil in the transmission, not forgetting to lossen the forward drain bolt a few turns then topping off again.

When using screws to remove a seal with this method be sure to use sharp point screws rather than self drilling screws which could leave chips in the gear case.

[ARCHINSTL]

4WD selector seal:
1. viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7029&p=52244&hilit=prop+seal#p52244
2. viewtopic.php?f=7&t=9701&hilit=4wd+seal Unfortunately, photos are missing (%$#@*& Photobucket!.
3. viewtopic.php?f=16&t=9522

Tailshaft seal info:
1. viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6446
2. viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6388

Tools for pulling seals:
1. viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6465&p=48130&hilit=seal#p48130
2. Save your money and use this ! viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6465&p=48130&hilit=seal#p48130

Tom M.

[Petros]

all of the transmission seals can be replaced without pulling anything off the trans, and with the trans in place. only the input shaft seal requires the trans to be pulled, but that one never goes bad.

there is a metal collar on the tail shaft housing, it is a slip fit and just pulls off. you have to remove the rear drive shaft, and the two CV axles to install new seals. the selector shaft seal is replaced by removing the bell crank. It is a bit of a bear to get the seal out, need a sharp tool like an ice pick. MAKE SURE the new seal is the RIGHT SIZE before you destroy the old one getting it out.

I just recently replaced my clutch and decided to replace the selector lever seal while the trans was out, I had one I bought months ago for the job. I was not the same size, so I left the old one in place. I actually made a "home made" seal, with the old one in place I clean it well, covered it with RTV and wrapped a string round it a few times, than put the washer over it (that goes on the shaft between the belcrank and the side of the trans). I do not know it will work, but it did not leak bad, more of an annoyance.

good luck.

[cromagmom]

Got the input shaft and selector seals at oreilly today. Thanks for all the info, folks. I'm going to tackle my front suspension first and let you all know how the seal replacements go. I went ahead and got one of those seal puller Archinstl recommended.