Gavin

I recently pulled out the driver's side half shaft due to a torn boot. I have replaced the boot, but haven't had any luck getting a hold of the oil seal for the transaxle (manual 5 spd).

My car has just over 100k miles on it, and the transmission has never leaked. How bad of an idea is it to just reassemble everything with the existing oil seal? It looks fine and is still soft.

I have called around and none of the parts houses have the right part, and the dealer can't get it until the end of the week.

Problem is I need my car to go to work, and if reusing the existing seal is not likely to leak I will risk putting it together, otherwise I will have to come up with some other form of transportation to and from work.

I have drained the oil too to fill it up with the highly recommended Redline MT-90

Thanks in advance for the help!

Gavin

Stephen Max

iTrader: (59)

There's no need to replace the seal if it is not leaking. Since you know how to remove the axle yourself, save the job for when it does begin to leak.

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

I agree with Stephen, if you were really carefull when you pulled teh axel out, the seal should still be ok. Personally I would have had the seal in hand prior to starting the job. You should replace seals, not reuse them. Put the axel back in with the old seal if you need the car. Worse case is it leaks and you'll have to replace the seal at a later date.

jbreit

look the seal over closely for cuts. wipe the sealing surfaces clean with a soft clean rag, grease it with a little moly or lithium grease and CAREFULLY reassemble....if you don't cut it during the removal/installation it will probably be fine....mine was on my 95 with 80K

xHypex

iTrader: (1)

I've had 2 seals leak so far, and I'm only at 58k. Either I have transmission problems or something else is the culprit, but I haven't figured it out yet. My advice to you is to replace the seal, because if it does leak you'll be spending more money on MT-90 and a new seal.
-hype

Stephen Max

iTrader: (59)

No need to drain the transmission when replacing axle seals.

Gavin

Thanks for the info.

If I had known, I too would have had prefered to have the seal in hand. It all started with an oil change, I noticed the torn boot. Was a long weekend, and thought I would take advantage of it. Took everything apart and made my parts list. Who would have guessted that something as common as an oil seal would be so difficult to find.

Well, the seal seems fine, and the CV joint came out smoothly. Fingers are crossed. If not, it's not too terrible of a job getting back in there.

I knew there wasn't a need to drain the tranny oil, was just itching to do it for a while now (was due) Someone described shifting with Redline MT-90 made the car "shift like butta". I wanna experience this so called "butta shifting" sensation 1st hand hahaha.

Regards,
Gavin