Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login 1988 Mondial 3.2 So last winter I tackled the CV boot replacement. Did a very careful job, and since the differential seals showed no leaks, I just put things back together. Was a pretty messy and tough job to get the old bolts loose, but all worked out well, thanks to various Fchat threads. One year later, the differential seal failed. Started getting some gear oil sling onto the exhaust, was not sure where it was coming from, but eventually isolated it to the gear box seal. So in effect I have to do the CV joint job all over again... Tip to those who see this thread in the future - do the differential seal "while you are in there" even if it looks fine. Mine was probably the 30 year old original seal. Not bad service life! Here is what the inner CV joint looks like when the seal fails and leaks gear oil... I presume I should remove the boot on the leaky CV side and clean out the joint and regrease again...pretty disappointing based on how careful I did the job last year. Will report as I do the seal replacement, there are good threads on this, I am a bit intimidated by the big bolt, we will see how that goes. Can someone confirm if I need to drain the gear oil, not clear from other threads, looks like that is not required as best I can discern.
No need to drain gear oil, the fill level is below the area being worked on. Bolt came out easy with the impact wrench, 19mm. The seal itself was pretty stuck in there, even after taking out the DSC and working on the bench. I can imagine it would be difficult getting out on the other side where the seal it directly in the diff casting, would need some sort of seal puller?
I did this procedure on my 308 last year; getting the seal out was a .... task. I almost resorted to fire/explosives. The worst challenge is not gouging the casing. If you have (or acquire) a puller that will work, I recommend that method. The other methods (screws, hammer, picks) aren't fun. On the upside, the new seals have held perfectly.
Hmm, I was afraid of that. Some seal pullers I have seen look too big to fit in the space between the splines and the seal/casing. If anyone has had success with a specific puller tool would be helpful to know. With the limited space and a arms in the way, how did you bang in a new seal? My new seal in the DSC went in but did require quite a bit of hammering force. Hard to imagine doing that on the in car engine successfully.
I think this is the Superformance tool that would install the seal (scroll to the bottom of the page link). http://www.superformance.co.uk/328/driveshaft.html The picture is confusing, the bolt in the side I think is just to keep the bolt for storage so its not lost. It goes through the top hole, and you then use the bolt to screw into the splined diff shaft, and press the seal in. Good tool idea, expensive, could probably bodge one using a bolt and large socket, but I am getting one as with my free labour I can afford to spend on the tools! Still need a good seal remover, this looks brilliant but not sure it is big enough for the seal, says works with up to a 47mm id. Our seals od is 62mm, id 43.but not sure if it would expand large enough to catch the metal part of the seal. Looks close, anyone used this?
Contacted the vendor, this looks like it will work. As long as the seal ID is bewteen 29mm and 47mm it will work, OD does not matter. Going to get one.
I'm not following the description of your problem. If you have gear oil inside the inboard CV joint, it can only come thru the splines, or the large bolt threads, and out from under the large washer -- not thru a bad lip seal. Did you use a (e.g., RTV) sealant under the large washer to seal up the spline ends and the bolt threads?
Yes, there was both oil leaking from the seal and slinging onto the exhaust header, as well as some leaking through the splines, which then creeped out at the CV joint to flange and flung off as well. I thought at first it was just the seal, but it appears to have been both. When I removed the bolt, the spline and bolt sealer was minimal, very old and degraded, maybe was the original sealer. I doubt the seals had ever been replaced. On close inspection, the main leaking was from the seal, looks like some grit got in there, lightly scored the rotating surface. The bolt/washer area leak was probably minor minor in comparison, but clearly was due for resealing. I have followed the "Birdman" tutorial, and used the correct gear oil resistant and Curil T sealers when doing the renewal of the seal on the DSC side. I was surprised by how tight the seal was in the DSC, so getting proper tools for seal removal and replacement on the passenger side seems essential. The passenger side is not leaking, but given the state of the drivers side, I think it best to just renew it proactively during my winter down season.
