Gear oil smell

I just clicked over like 350 miles in my new 23 TRD ORP.... I noticed yesterday that my garage smells very strongly of gear oil - my 4R is the only vehicle in there, and I have never opened or drained gear oil in my garage on any other vehicle. I crawled down and looked at the front and rear wheels/rear axle/T-case, and did not see any obvious signs of a leak.

Anything or anywhere specific I should check?

 

Front diff, transfer case and rear diff use gear oil and it stinks. Transmission and oil don't smell much in comparison. Did you really look closely for seepage/leaks? Check plugs, drain and fill.

 

I grabbed my pen light and went down to look, rear axle drain - clean. T-case drain (couldnt locate) but the bottom of the t-case was clean. Could not see in the front where the drain was.

Also I was checking at the wheels in case it was an axle end seal. Didn't see anything glaringly obvious. But the garage definitely stinks like it!

 

Interesting. Might be worth dropping the skid plate to get a closer look.

 

Should I though? It only has 350 miles and I've owned in exactly 9 days. Im feeling like making a dealer appointment and letting them check it out. Going to try it 1 more day and see if my garage stinks again, maybe it was just overflow??

 

I would call the dealer if you can not find the source of the leak. Overflow? Not likely.

 

Shit. Ok. I was grasping at straws on it being overfilled from the factory (it=axle, front diff, t-case). The smell is unmistakeable gear oil. I just went around the garage with the truck pulled out looking for any drips/puddles (none found) and looked for any remnant of gear oil, such as a funnel or opened quart laying around (none).

 

Yeah, take it in. Shouldn't be that strong.

 

Weird…. The breather for the front diff and transfer terminate in the engine bay near the drivers side of the engine. The rear is a check valve on top of the pumpkin. You could sniff around to see if one or more are the source of the smell.

I think if I smelled it coming out of the breathers I would take it in. It’s not supposed to make your garage smell like gear oil. But maybe leave it outside a day or two to be extra sure the garage stops smelling. You’d hate to subject yourself to the dealer unless absolutely necessary.

 

Look for a pinion seal leaking front or rear slinging on exhaust but gear oil stinks burning or not for ever. Make sure transfer case to transmission seal not leaking either. They had a few issues on some

 

They might have undercoating the exhaust

 

My bad. You don't have enough miles to worry yet.

 

I spilled some fresh Redline gear oil on an old favorite shirt of mine while changing my front and rear diffs. I soaked it in a bucket with Dawn dish soap for a couple of hours, scrubbed it, washed it 3X and it smelled just as bad as it did before I washed it. Threw it out. That stuff is just plain nasty.

 

Do you have the TRD Exhaust? Because it smells when brand new

 

It could be the tires being new. I doubt is gear oil.

 

Normal smells unless you see fluid. Give it a couple weeks.

 

I used to get that gear oil smell in the cab when I parked on a steep driveway over night. Never got it when parked on level ground.

 

I don't know... all vehicles, when new, have their own smells. Diesel P/U's usually smell like half burnt diesel fuel. A strong V-8 in a car with a traction control "OFF' button, will smell like fresh burnt rubber. Cold catalytic converters smell like rotten eggs.
Agitated gear oil just plain stinks and it's doing just what the axle vent is designed to do, vent.

Be glad it doesn't smell like baby diapers.