Re: Differential help

offshore · Post by **offshore** » Tue May 08, 2012 11:23 am

The other day I noticed an oil spot under the back of the car... and thinking... the oil drain plug for the differential just needed to be tightened up. I put the car on jack stand so I could get a better look at what was going on. This is what I found. Oil is all over the underneath of the back of th car around the differential. Also, it looked like a bolt is missing from the differential flange and oil is leaking from there.

And I notice a litter oil leaking here. Not sure it it is from the brake caliper or the axle.

And on another note. A diferent problem. I notice oil leaking from this spot.

I have no experience with this stuff. I am a little dumb when it comes to some stuff like this, but I am learning. I know I need to repalce the bolt on the flange differerential. However, will that fix the problems/leak around the differential?

And I am not sure what is leaking in pictures 5 and 6.

narfire · Post by **narfire** » Tue May 08, 2012 12:02 pm

I suspect a pinion seal has packed it in causing the leak at the flange. Going to have disconect the drive shaft there and undo the pinion nut on the diff. to get at the pinion seal. Need all 4 bolts and nuts when it goes back together. Also mark the drive shaft and flange together so it goes back together right side up. Not a big thing really but will need a torque wrench to tighten properly.
The oil at the speedo conection might be loose nuts or if it is comming from the rear of the tranny then output seal could be leaking.

If you don't have a manual or two, try and source a couple and a few metric wrenches and you can do much of these repairs yourself.
Chris

offshore · Post by **offshore** » Tue May 08, 2012 2:23 pm

I will order a new pinion seal today. I will let you know how turns out.

Thanks for all the help.

scarlson · Post by **scarlson** » Thu May 10, 2012 12:06 am

Be careful when removing the pinion nut. Mark its location and count the turns to remove it. The pinion bearing preload is set with a crush sleeve so the adjustment is critical.

narfire · Post by **narfire** » Thu May 10, 2012 2:10 am

scarlson wrote: Mark its location and count the turns to remove it. The pinion bearing preload is set with a crush sleeve so the adjustment is critical.

Forgot about that. I used a torque wrench and figured what the torque was. It was around 100-110 pounds. I think the count the turns would be a bit more accutate though.

offshore · Post by **offshore** » Thu May 10, 2012 12:02 pm

Ok, thanks. I plan on tackling it this weekend.

124JOE · Post by **124JOE** » Fri May 11, 2012 8:46 am

the speedo cable may need a o ring
and it looks like your caliper is leaking also

offshore · Post by **offshore** » Fri May 11, 2012 2:50 pm

Would it be better to rebuild the caliper of just by a new one.

124JOE · Post by **124JOE** » Sun May 13, 2012 4:32 pm

my leak on a caliper was the copper washers
$5 and all done

you should poke around a bit to see what is leaking
ofcorse thowing hundreds of dollars at it will fix it
but if "like me"$5 fixed it...

offshore · Post by **offshore** » Mon May 21, 2012 3:09 pm

I got around to replacing the pinion seal this weekend. I marked the drive shaft and flange together and marked the nut and its location. Everything went smoothly back togther. However, when I finished tighting the nut back down the (number of turns counted to untighted it) the mark on the nut was almost a half turn pass the mark I made on the differential. The nut was tight and would not turn anymore unless I was to really crank on it. So, I backed the nut off until it was lined up with the other mark. I was worried if I tighten it to much I would damage the bearing.

I am wondering if I did the right thing or not. If anyone could help easy my mind I would appreciate it

narfire · Post by **narfire** » Mon May 21, 2012 6:39 pm

I was told the torque on the pinion nut was around 110 lbs.I have not confirmed that in either of the manuals I have though, perhaps a good idea to check. Next time I do a pinion seal I'll be using a new crush sleave and torquing to 110.

majicwrench · Post by **majicwrench** » Tue May 22, 2012 11:08 am

without looking in a fiat manual, I have never seen a rear end with a crush sleeve that used a torque value on the pinion nut. You tighten the nut till the pinion assemble takes a certain amount of in/lbs to rotate with the ring gear out of the rear end. If you are just doing a seal, I would not change the crush sleeve. And backing the nut off is not a good thing.

124JOE · Post by **124JOE** » Tue May 22, 2012 3:00 pm

yes put it back "half over"
and leave it