rear differential

kevcules · Sep 18, 2012

I noticed some drops of oily fluid on my garage floor today. It's coming from the rear differential seal. How much of a job would it be to change this? I've searched a little and not much info on replacing it other than going to the dealer which is a no no!
My 08 Limited only has 55,000 km's on it, I may have warranty??
I cleaned the bottom part of it to see it better ,but you can still it's still wet up a little higher on the circular housing.
I've attached a pic

sam02135 · Sep 18, 2012

Don't go to the dealer ... no no no ... just a regular mechanic that you have been recommended to; they're cheaper. I don't know the cost.

kevcules · Sep 18, 2012

Thanks Sam.....It would be a very unlikely scenario for me to have the dealer do any work for me that isn't covered under warranty. I simply can't afford $95 / hour !
I do most of the work to my own vehicles and was wondering if someone had some advice on how to tackle this job.

Carbon · Sep 19, 2012

Maybe the power-train warranty would be in effect and cover this. Somebody may have that for you, or you could look that up.

The 2006 Service Manual could be useful. Look in Junebug's profile for a way to download.

Learn to do an advanced PDF search to find the chapter you need. In Adobe reader, that advanced search is off of the Edit button.

The manual is not as easy as it could be, but it is much easier now that it has been consolidated into one PDF file per chapter. It would be nicer if the manual had more parts views.

If you do this yourself, take pictures, and maybe make them available for others.

I have not tried looking this up.

Dr. Dyno · Sep 19, 2012

Checking with the dealer isn't a bad idea. Finding out how many $95s they'd charge tells you how big a job it is.

Blogson · Sep 19, 2012

Maybe I need to have my vision checked, but the differential case looks dry, or you must have given it a super cleaning - are you certain that is where the drops are coming from? Powertrain warranty is 60 months, 60,000 miles for the U.S. If the warranty is the same for Canada and there is a problem it should be a warranty repair.

kevcules · Sep 19, 2012

Yeah.....i did wipe off the oil.It was dripping from the bottom of the case. You can see where it's still wet at about 8 and 4 o'clock.

Leorav4 · Sep 19, 2012

I would check and add oil in to the differential right now. It might be to late to change a seal if there were no oil and the gear was running dry.

kevcules · Sep 20, 2012

I went to the dealer today asking about the leak in the differential and actually showed him a colored print out of the pic I took. He said right away "oh yeah it's the pinion seal" sounds common to me but of course not him. It is covered under warranty so thanks to those who mentioned warranty earlier.

The service guy also mentioned that the "coupler" inside the differential might be corrupted with fluid as well. He said if it was , to my surprise, they would change that to! He said it's really preventative and that eventually I would hear a "whine" from it. I've heard the whine noise mentioned here in other threads so according to him, it's the part (coupler) that's inside the diff case that locks and unlocks the drive function to each rear wheel.

I'll try to get a summary of how he took it apart if I can next Tuesday.

Carbon · Sep 20, 2012

Nice! Expect to pay for new fluid, or maybe you could supply the appropriate Amsoil lube.

kevcules · Sep 21, 2012

I don't think so......if they try and pull that one on me , there will be a problem! I've never had that happen ....YET.
Will post back on Tuesday. They said the job was about 1.5 to 2 hours.

PS.....I'm a big fan of Amsoil products!

pepepeter · Sep 20, 2012

that is interesting that the "whine" noise could also come from the rear differential.. please do post updates when you can..thankx

Banty · Sep 20, 2012

Kevules, can you discribe the whine, and when you hear it? I have some kind of whine in the drivetrain of my I4 2007 sport.

Blogson · Sep 20, 2012

Good to hear that the repair is being done under the warranty provisons. If the problem includes corrrupted fluid it would seem that changing that should also be a warranty situation. If it's not corrupted and they're changing it as a preventative measure they may, as Carbon notes, charge you for the fluid itself.

anchorman · Sep 23, 2012

There is a multi plate clutch rather like you might get in a motorcycle but the plates are made from sintered metal. The clutch is immersed in the diff oil (wet clutch) which is why the oil always comes out really dirty at the 2 year interval. The latest spec calls for a multigrade "SX" oil (75W/80 I think). Why did you change to 110 grade?

friendly_jacek · Sep 25, 2012

Towing in hot part of the country. The shop manual specifies GL-5 90 oils above freezing here in US. The new SAE 110 is about the same as heavy old SAE 90 classification.

kevcules · Sep 25, 2012

Hey Guys....

Just got back from the dealership.....

They replaced the "coupler" and the pinion seal (which seems is in the coupler assembly) under warranty. I asked about the coupler and how it works but got a "deer in the headlights look" from the service guys!

It was funny watching 2 guys try to explain to me how it worked and what it did.... I asked to see a mechanic ,but they were too busy I guess? I asked to see the mechanic that was going to do the work BEFORE he worked on it , I guess he forgot! They seemed like they didn't want to give up much info and I'm not pleased with this visit.
If you look at the pics below, it seems the driveshaft connects to the coupler assembly, then the differential.
I looked on the invoice when the work was completed and it said ,"coupler is noisy" Now I never once mentioned coupler to anyone, just the pinion seal was leaking, sounds like they have had an issue with them before. I'm assuming it's the "whine" noise that some experience.

Banty · Sep 25, 2012

kevcules said:
Hey Guys....

Just got back from the dealership.....

They replaced the "coupler" and the pinion seal (which seems is in the coupler assembly) under warranty.

Any idea what it would have cost not under warranty?

anchorman · Sep 25, 2012

That's the multi plate clutch assembly. It is operated by a servo driven helix that is operated by the ECU. It can alter the drive steplessly between the front and rear wheels up to a max of 55:45 front to rear. The vehicle ALWAYS starts in 4WD then backs off as the speed increases and the load decreases. If you floor the accelerator it will come back in accordingly.

BTW I think it will have been very expensive.

kevcules · Sep 25, 2012

Good explanation !...... why do I even have a 4 wheel drive manual switch then? The previous owner said he never needed to use it, but it's there. The vehicle was good in the snow all by itself.

Octane · Sep 27, 2012

funny how it's always easier for them to change the whole part, than just change a 3$ seal...

vanib · Oct 18, 2012

it is easy to check if your rear diff and transaxle fluid at the right high. Just unscrew the filler flug and put your finger to feel it. Or you could just change the fluid (2 hours work, $10 lube). You torque the filler plug back on (or at least mark it before you take it out so you screw back exactly as before it came out).

http://www.rav4world.com/forums/99-...-4-3-mechanical/90542-rear-differential-transfer-case-gear-lube.html#post920953

kevcules · Oct 19, 2012

Yeah.....usually when the vehicle is level, if you remove the drain plug , fluid should slowly run out. The bottom of the hole is the fluid level.
That video was good, I sure didn't like the noise that coupler was making!!!! I've never heard that on mine........yet!

pepepeter · Oct 19, 2012

Vanib and kevcules,

Thanks for the pointer regarding checking the fluid levels. My main concern is the origination of this noise ive been hearing. Any idea if its related to the coupler or rear diff? Thanks

atoyot · Feb 19, 2013

Hey, everybody. I'm a bit late to this thread, though I'm researching some work that the dealer's doing right now. They're in the process of changing out the tranny due to ring gear whine, and they say part of the noise is coming from the back end... which is consistent with my feeling that there were two noise sources to begin with, but couldn't properly demonstrate to the shop foreman.

The service people say that the rear differential needs to be opened up and the magnetic clutch crap changed out. I asked what I might be doing that would cause that to fail in only 65,000 miles, and the guy asked me if I've been doing really heavy braking while towing. That seemed like a strange question. What would braking have to do with elecromagnetic clutch engagement? Besides, the answer was, "No" since I've only had one super-duper nose-dive stop to avoid ramming some twit.

Ideas?

Downriver · Apr 25, 2015

Metal in oil

I have a 2007 5 cylinder RAV4 with 146k miles.
I have had the coupler and the drive shaft replaced by a dealer in the last few years.
The differential seal was leaking and I had a Non-Toyota mechanic look at it.
He showed me a cup of Differential fluid that was grey in color and he said that there was fine metal suspended in it.
I had him put the new seals on which he did after replacing the tie rod and half axle on one side since he couldn't take them out without striping the threads (Sigh).
My question is - assuming that a bearing or the clutch plates are wearing can these parts be replaced/repaired or is it likely needed a show stopper replacement? I suspect that I could run into the same problems with one from a wreckers yard.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

rear differential

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