Rear Main Seal 2000 Es300

bdahlman · January 5, 2004

2000 ES300 with 58k miles. I started to see small amount of oil on garage floor so I took it to local dealer. I was told that fluid is coming from rear main seal.

Dealer tells me that they have seen oil buildup in the engines of these cars and they have actually had to replace more than one engine for owners with the same problem. Oil pressure builds up and forces through rear main seal.

Dealer says it might just be a bad seal but worse case would be engine replacement. They are going to have to remove the head to diagnose.

Has anyone else experienced this same issue? The repair is covered by the powertrain warranty but I'm curious to know if Lexus replaces with a new or rebuilt engine?

RPrindl · January 5, 2004

Remove the head to diagnose a bad rear main seal? The rear main seal is on the crankshaft, removing the cylinder head makes no sense, unless excessive sludge is causing the problem.

Take the replacement motor, just make sure it's rebuilt in Japan! :cheers:

bdahlman · January 5, 2004

Correct, removing head to determine if sludge build up is root cause of rear main seal leak. I'm with you, I'll take a new engine!

SW03ES · January 5, 2004

A rear main seal leak is new to me, sludging sure, but the seal leak I have not heard about...

Have you changed the oil regularly?

bdahlman · January 5, 2004

I've only owned the vehicle since October. No stamps in the owners manual so I'm not certain of the maintenance history. I visited the dealer on Saturday and he told me they could access all records associated with VIN until Monday.

Service representatives claims sludge build up leads to internal engine pressure and ultimately forces oil out via the rear main seal.