About 2 months ago I noticed some differential oil on the front half of my rear differential cover and could see oil coming from the flange of the pinion. I suspected the pinion seal so I took it to a local transmission shop and they did indeed find the pinion seal to be bad, so they replaced for a couple hundred bucks. I drove the truck for a week or so and was still noticing a little drip forming in the flange about e er 4th day of driving, so I took it back and they had it for near 4 days driving it and checking the leak, they assured me it wasn't leaking and it could have been residual oil left inside the flange from the Initial fix. So since then I've been checking it about once a week and haven't noticed any leak.....until today when I pulled my 18 foot Jon boat about 6 miles to a fishing hole and back. I decided to check and sure enough, oil on my differential cover, noticeable oil coming from the pinion. I'm really tired of messing with this. What could be the problem? Clogged axle vent? How do I check it to see if it's clear? Thanks for the input.
Help! Pinion leak.
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Decided to take the axle vent out and give it a once over...there was some crud in there, but it seemed like I could blow air through it easy enough..I did notice before I took it out that the Cap on top had a lot of gunk around it, I started wiggling it and a lot of shyt broke free..now it definately seems it moves up and down and spins more freely. I'm not sure this was causing my problem. On a side note, when I had the pinion seal replaced they did tell me they checked the pinion bearing and it was fine.
This was after I put the vent back in. Seemed like when I took it out it was threaded deeper in the axle, now there is small gap between the nut and the axle. Although there was a lot of crap built up around it before I took it out, so maybe it just seems like it was farther in. I tightened it until it was pretty snug, but didn't wanna take the chance of breaking it off.
This was after I put the vent back in. Seemed like when I took it out it was threaded deeper in the axle, now there is small gap between the nut and the axle. Although there was a lot of crap built up around it before I took it out, so maybe it just seems like it was farther in. I tightened it until it was pretty snug, but didn't wanna take the chance of breaking it off.
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Yea but it doesn't look like my axle seals are leaking...don't they usually leak first if the vent is failing? I only checked the vent because I pulled my boat and it leaked for the first time in a few weeks...so I figured the extra load and stress on the rear end may have caused more pressure to build than normal... I may be wrong in my thinking though
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It's the vent for the entire axle. Depending on where a weak point is is where it'll fail first. One of the best $39 you can spend on your truck, shipped straight to you from Cajun.
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I cleaned the vent pretty well I feel like with some spray oil and an air compressor...I'll see if that makes a difference or not. If it were only partially clogged, would pulling a 2500# boat cause enough extra pressure to cause some seepage, over normal driving? Thanks for the link to the vent kit by the way, I was going to order an OEM replacement for 12 dollars, but I may go ahead and get the upgrade.
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It all depends on how much your axle heated up. High heat with a clogged vent? That won't end well.
At the very least, I would do the axle vent mod, fill up the differential and then clean off the exterior of the differential and keep an eye on it. My dealer replaced my front pinion seal and I brought it back because it looked like it was leaking. They said it wasn't and that it was residual oil from when it was leaking. I've kept a close eye on it since then.
At the very least, I would do the axle vent mod, fill up the differential and then clean off the exterior of the differential and keep an eye on it. My dealer replaced my front pinion seal and I brought it back because it looked like it was leaking. They said it wasn't and that it was residual oil from when it was leaking. I've kept a close eye on it since then.
The residual oil thing is pretty much the same story I got from the mechanic that fixed mine. Which made a little since to me because like I said, after they put the new seal in, the leak slowed way down, only forming a small amount of oil in the flange around the pinion about once every 4 or 5 days...then after a week or two it quit all together, until yesterday when I pulled my boat. The only thing I could think of was the extra stress of the boat with possibly a partially clogged vent couldve made the pinion leak. Now that I've cleaned the vent and cleaned the differential I'm gonna watch it close...I'm gonna look into ordering the vent kit from cajun in the meantime. My truck is a 2012 with 67k on it. Just can't understand why it's having this issue...just annoying as hell. As long as it stays slow and doesn't burst like a water balloon itll be okay.
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