So here's the story, just got back from Afghanistan and my dad and I started working on my car to install all the mods I bought while i was over there. The biggest issue we've ran into is, we replaced both axles and the transaxle seals and now the passenger side seal/axle is leaking, and we can't get it to stop. We thought maybe it was a bad seal so I bought another one and installed it, while it slowed the leak, its still leaking, did we do something wrong? The chilton manual only said to seat the seal all the way down (which i did) and to install the axle. Does anyone know what would be causing the axle to still be leaking? Any help would be great, don't want to get going down the road and something bad happen.

Thanks guys,

LCpl Hall

 

You didn't have a leak previously? A bad diff bearing will ruin every seal you put in there. Actually, any play in the driveshaft will do the same. I would make sure your support bracket is bolted tightly and also that your cv shaft seats properly. It is not uncommon for parts to be packaged incorrectly. I shaft with incorrect length would not seat properly. GL!

 

no it didn't leak previously just figured replace them seeing how we had the transmission out already. The driveshaft had absolutely no play in it, we checked that. The support bracket if anything is superman tight lol. I do believe the cv shaft was seated properly, it can't go any further once you bolt it up so i'm lost here.

 

Hmmmm.... Are you replacing the seals from the same mfg? Maybe they have the listing wrong. I've even gotten the wrong seal from Nissan before. Errors happen.

 

I see anyone post a legitimate question up and no one cares to respond on it, oh and before you say search, yea I have, no results for what i'm looking for like always, and if you say stickies, well that'd be great if any of the links worked

 

Tranny seals are a bi**h..Last time I did axles I ended up reinstalling the DS axle 3 times because I had a leaking seal the first 2 times..and that was on a 99, so same trans/seals as yours. What I finally realized is the seals are quite sensitive to how deeply they are seated, and whether they are evenly seated all around, and to being nicked/bashed/bent. In the case of the driver side, I had initially seated the seal all the way in, and realized afterwards by rereading the FSM, that the seal was not supposed to be all the way in and bottomed, but rather it should be flush with the outer lip. I never touched the PS seal though, since it wasn't leaking, and is harder to get at, so I can't confirm with certainty if that applies to the PS side too. I'd suggest you double check you were supplied the right seal, get a copy of the FSM online and verify what Nissan says as opposed to Chilton, and be very careful when you install and seat the seal...use a seal driver, which I didn't have at the time, so I ended up using a piece of wood and really carefully tapping the seal in to the correct depth.
Try here for the FSM http://carservicemanuals.blogspot.co...h/label/Nissan
Good luck, be patient and gentle with the seal and you'll get it.

 

dude thank you so much, we had the seal seated all the way, that must be it, that will be the first thing i do in the morning. Chilton didn't say **** about the depth of the seal so i just pushed it all the way in. But i really appreciate that bit of info!

 

Glad you figured it out with the help of StevieB. I recently did this on another member's car while changing his axle support bracket. One too many taps. (Not much space to drive in a seal on the passenger side. It's easier if you drop the crossmember.) I noticed what I did immediately, however. The seal will not actually be 'seated'. In case anyone pulls this thread up while searching for the same problem: If you drive the seal in too far, it rests on the bearing and will be allowed to turn freely. When the seal has freedom of movement it is not going to function as a seal.

Don't even bother trying to reuse that seal once you get it out. You'll need a new one.

 

oh yea the seal puller i have pretty much foobars the seal, plus bearing/seal maintenance is what i do in the corps, we have a policy there, never reuse a seal, so even if i managed to pull this one out with no VISIBLE damage, it will get replaced either way. and yes dropped the crossmember does significantly improve your working area but with the right length tool and patience you can do it without dropping the cross member, but again thank yall for the help!