pinion seal leak...

[JStieger]

Anyone else experience this yet on the '03? 3700 miles on mine now and the rear pinion seal started leaking!



I found it when comparing the '03 rear suspension to my friend's '97 CTD. The leak is not too bad - nothing on ground, but a nice spray pattern on the diff housing. He said his rear pinion seal started leaking at 2000 miles, then got it replaced, and no more leaks - at 190,000 hard miles now!



I did a search on the TDR on this and it looked like early seal leaks were fairly common. Cheap seals?!



Anyhow, I'll get it repaired this Friday when I take it in for the CO2 safety recall (just received recall notice on Saturday).

 

[JStieger]

Pinion seal leak update

Well I got the rear pinion seal replaced at the local dealer last week. After about 500 miles it looks like the new seal is also leaking! It looks more like a "weep", where the housing under the pinion is just wet with no drips. I talked to the mechanic after he repaired it and he said that the yoke surface was smooth and that the new seal may weep a bit, but not to worry?!



Am I wrong to expect that a $32,000 new vehicle will not have any leaks or is this to be expected with the power and vibrations of the Cummins going through the driveline? I replaced pinion seals before on my other vehicles, but they never leaked afterwards.



I think that I'll just keep an eye on it and see if the weeping stops by itself

 

[RankRam]

JSteiger, I went through three seals on my 99 and with the fourth one they changed the yoke and no leaks. Mine was very similar to your experience (3800 Miles).



The fourth and final seal was done at around 20k and no leaks since.

 

[JStieger]

RankRam: Thanks for the reply - fourth time was the charm - hopefully I don't have to go through this, but it looks like at least the 3rd seal for me! I'm going to watch it over the next week or so and see if it gets worse. I'll also crawl under and see if there seems to be excess play anywhere that might not be helping matters.



I wonder if the American Axles under the new GM trucks are having the same problems with pinion seals? Seems like the Dana axles under the previous generation CTDs had lots of pinion seal leaking problems - hopefully it doesn't carry over into the '03s with the new axles.



I'll give the local dealer another shot at repairing this and next time insist on looking at the yoke myself without taking their word for it. How many miles do you have on the fourth seal now?

 

[RankRam]

I have 54500 on her now so that comes to 34500 miles and it still looks ok.



It does have a hint of sweat but I would say it's been that way for around 15k now and I can live with that.



Carson Dodge did the warranty work and they were very good.



I believe they were trying to save Dodge a little money.



They were very hesitant to swap out the yoke. Don't know for sure but that yoke looks to be expensive.

 

[Dean Upson]

I had two seals replaced on my 98. 5 and the problem ended up being a blocked breather. There was probably nothing wrong with either seal.



Dean

 

[JStieger]

Thanks for the heads up on checking the breather too. That's such an obvious, quick, and cheap thing to check and rule out so I'll check that tomorrow when it's light out. I also wiped the pinion portion of the diff housing down and sprinkled some baby powder on it to judge how bad the weep is over time. Maybe it could have been residual oil from the previous leak made to look worse with picked up road grime. We shall see after a little 450 mile road trip Saturday.

 

[JStieger]

Update

Went to the local dealer this morning to try to get this resolved. When I got there the service writer told me that they can't diagnose over the phone and need to see if I ran over anything to pop the pinion seal. After I digested this, the shop foreman told me it was residual oil from the previous leak for sure. I responded that after their first repair and subsequent leak I checked the diff breather for blockage and wiped the diff housing down with brake cleaner and then sprinkled baby powder on it and then went on a drive. Upon returning the baby powder was now an oily goop on the bottom of the housing. A week later the sides of the housing were an oily mess. He then suggested that perhaps the seal needs more time to set and seepage is to be expected. I said after 1000 miles don't you think it should have happened by now? He finally agreed - he then changed his tune and will call DC for advice since this is a new axle as opposed to the Danas. I'll give the local dealer one more chance or else it's off to Carson Dodge, who have been recommended by many on the TDR, 300 miles away...