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I put new axles on when I did a clutch job about 7 months / 8,000 miles ago. Installed new axle seals too. Today I noticed a puddle under the trans. Upon closer exam I noticed the axle is popped out about 1/2" so. The seal is still in place, but the axle is out just enough for the seal to be off axle so oil is leaking by.
Has anyone ever seen this happen? I made sure the spring ring was on there (drivers side axle only) before I popped it in. And yea, i took a little force to pop in, Not tremendous, but I felt it pop in good.
I'll take it apart tomorrow and see what's going on. I wouldn't expect this to just pop out for no reason. Any thoughts or suggestions? Wondering if maybe that spring ring broke.
That's not popped out. You just have a leaky seal.
Yea, I think you're right. I took it apart last evening, the spring ring is fine. Although the axle moved in and out a little bit, it was not popped out.
Regardless, I don't quite understand why the seal suddenly went bad to the point where it was leaking badly / causing a puddle while the car was parked
Other than the wrong seal being installed, it's hard to say without being there to see it myself. Left and right seals are not the same, and I once made the mistake of installing two left seals and had the same exact problem! My fault, live and learn!
On my 97 5 speed, the carrier bearing was worn causing play in the shaft and leakage. Hopefully you are not experiencing that.
Ok Zerodrag, what do you mean when you say "causing play in the shaft"? Did the worn carrier bearing cause the axle shaft to move in and out of the differential / case too much? Thus touching the seal? Or did the worn carrier bearing cause side to side play? Read on:
Ok Solved one mystery, but another mystery remains. I figured out why it suddenly started leaking so rapidly. It's because that metal collar shield on the axle shaft was touching the seal face and wore an actual hole in the seal face. (you know, that ring shield thing on the end of the CV axle that covers the seal to keep dirt and grime away).
So, the question is, when I installed the seal 6 months ago, did I not seat it in far enough? OR is the axle moving in and out too much causing that shield thing to touch the seal?
Pics below. You can see in the first pic taken of the back of the seal, the small pinhole. I'm holding the seal over a flashlight so you can see the light shine through the pinhole.
Pic below shows the wear on the face of the seal from the axle shield thing touching it. (old seal on left. Red arrow point to area where the pinhole is. Seal on Right is new seal for comparison.
Last edited by wdornbach; Jul 27, 2020 at 01:09 PM.
Ok, so my theory is I didnt install the seal deep enough. So I did a mock up. I installed the axle, popped it in (I heard the snap ring click). Then I moved the axle in and out to see how much it moves. I'd say about 3/16" overall in and out.
Here is a link to a youtube vid, shows the in and out play: (without the seal installed)
So I'm going to install the new seal, and drive it deeper than the previous seal, but not too deep. (My girlfriend would certainly be disappointed haha )
I'll report my findings after test driving the car for a while.
I don't recall how much in and out movement mine had. Yours looks excessive, but I could be wrong. Drive the seal in a little deeper and I think you'll be good to go.
Update: So far so good. I installed that seal about .171 (11/64") deeper into the bore hole. I had originally (back in dec 2019 ) installed it flush with the bore face. Too close to the axle shaft shield in my case.
Caveat: The transaxle axle shaft bore hole does not have a bottom out limit stop like most oil seal bores have. If not careful you could easily drive that seal down until it touches the carrier bearing. So I had to be careful not only to get the depth correct, but make sure it was going in straight/square. It took a little finesse and I had to use the depth gauge on my vernier caliper.
I put about 1000 miles on it so far since installing that new seal. NO leaks.
Update: So far so good. I installed that seal about .171 (11/64") deeper into the bore hole. I had originally (back in dec 2019 ) installed it flush with the bore face. Too close to the axle shaft shield in my case.
Caveat: The transaxle axle shaft bore hole does not have a bottom out limit stop like most oil seal bores have. If not careful you could easily drive that seal down until it touches the carrier bearing. So I had to be careful not only to get the depth correct, but make sure it was going in straight/square. It took a little finesse and I had to use the depth gauge on my vernier caliper.
I put about 1000 miles on it so far since installing that new seal. NO leaks.
Good job. I agree with your assessment that the seal wasn’t in quite enough. I did one on the drivers side and it leaked a bit initially. Turned out it walked out a little like yours. I seated it further in and it’s been good since then. My axle also has a tiny bit of side to side play, but I don’t think that was the problem just the initial installation.
Update: I've put another 4000 miles on the car since my last update, including a long highway drive trip to Florida (2000 miles round trip). No problems so far. Seal is holding up just fine.
fwiw: Got about 27 mpg / 400 miles per tankful on the highway. Gotta love it, only had to stop twice for fuel each way on my trip to Florida. AC worked like a champ too. Florida is freaking hot in the summer! This is the only car I've had in which I can say the AC can blow to the point of being too cold, even in the extreme summer heat of Florida.
Solid work, bro. The AC system in these cars can hang meat if dialed in properly (I often freeze my food in my car because I can't afford my electric bill).
The axle stuff is commonsense, and you nailed it. Congrats, and add another point to your man card. You are the ****!
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