Weird oil appearing on my ATF hardlines bracket isolator bushings?

billssr5

billssr5

Well-Known Member
i ve been noticing what appears to be motor oil under the 2 rubber isolator bushings that are bracket attached to the side of my engine, even after numerous degreaser washing and power washing attempts to clean this oil out of them the oil seems to reappear, and its more prevalent in the hot summer months than winter although i took some pictures and its been cold out 34 degrees maybe colder at night, and heres that dang oil again, inside these 2 rubber isolators?? i actually removed one of the brackets 10mm and rag wiped the oil out of 1 of them as best i could and thought this should be the end but noooo. I always figured the oil came as a result of the 2.7l oil filter location whereas people with this engine know how the oil flies out on the engine block and other places, but i always degrease the hell out of it and even go right to the power wash and blast that area to hell, but nooo it always come back inside those isolator bushings, i inspected the lines and can see no leakage even pealed back the rubber on the bushing really didnt see no corrosion at all under there?? now the bushing closest to the passenger side seems to have a little more oil the the one towards the front almost directly under the oil gusher filter. ive always assumed its the oil change where oil gets up under the rubber isolators and appears when the engine heats up?? but ive cleaned the **** out of the with degreaser and power wash. ive checked both oil and ATF fluid levels nothing seems out of sorts there but those 2.7l dipsticks are a little wonky to read but no big fluid loss. hmmmmmm heres some pics
 

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tacojoel said:
Can really see much of anything unusual except places getting rusty.
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yea definetly getting rusty although i had the frame protection recall where they put some kind of corrosion protection inside and outside of the frame, these 2nd gens are notorious rust buckets, maybe that oil in my insulators is the corrosion oil, really is strange how that oil gets in between those rubber pieces like that and it gets very prevalent in summer almost a drip sometimes, i always believed it had something to do with that oil filter when you change it sometimes the oil shoots out all over the block side and maybe some got really entrenched into those grommets really weird ive never really have been able to wash,degrease it the hell out of them, tookoff a metal bracket and those grommets have a slit length wise spread them open cleaned out the area dry next thing you know its a little wet again, only other thing maybe the friction at those bracket points has worn a hole in the ATF lines there to where its developing a hole like an abrasion in the line, that would suck since those rubber pieces should protect the lines from it, very strange, ill try a little online snooping maybe someone else had this.
 
UPDATE:
after repeatedly crawling under the passenger side and checking the oil accumulation at the hard line ATF hold down bushing area and still finding wet oil there, I removed the front skid plate and came in from the front of the truck and found some oil had accumulated in the corner where the trans meets the rear of the engine block whereas i wouldnt have been able to see it from coming in from the side, so still fearing a rear main seal leak i wiped out that corner area with a rag as best i could, and soon i realized that after the removal oil the oil filter and dumping a big gush of oil landed on a shelf above the oil pan and was blown back into that corner when driving then seeping down onto that insulator bushing causing a high stress situation for me thinking its the infamous Taco rear main seal seepage more common(it seems with the higher mileage 4.0 engine) so far ive repeated checking it from the side and bell housing area and its staying quite dry now, we will really see during the hot weather months if my assumption is right, when that thin 0w20 heats up if it doesnt leak(hopefully). pretty sure its from the oil filter dumping oil om that ledge/step then blowing rearward to the corner then dripping downward, even after multiple degreasers cleaning it didnt get that oil out of the corner enough i hope.
 
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Do you have the original undercover shield plate on there still
That flimsy thing called a skid plate lol
 
tacojoel said:
You sound like your interfering with toyotas self rust inhibitor system.
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it will be back at the next oil change interval, at the moment i have high hopes that it wont be a rear main oil leak i am hoping, it will be really telling once the real hot weather comes in that thin synthetic oil really finds leaks
 
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