Differential ist kaput !

[Weasel]

Last week I noticed a few drops of oil on the garage floor and work parking place where the differential would be. So, I made an appointment and yesterday they replaced the pinion seal.
This morning as I'm driving to work going about 75 I heard a noise and felt a vibration that got increasingly worse within a few seconds. I pulled over and called road assistance. They arrived with a flatbed and took it to the dealer. Oil was running out of the pinion. They checked it out and found metal in the oil and the oil was black (burned). They felt that there must have been a problem for a while and ordered a replacement.
This is very weird. The car hasn't been raced or experienced any burnouts. It hasn't been abused, but driven moderately hard. 14000 miles. I'll be without my car for a few days and have to drive a chevy cavalier.


Mike

 

[ssssnake]

Had a leaking differential and took it in. They fixed the problem but on the way home noticed a bad clunking everytime you shifted. Took it back in and they said a bearing was out. No problems now but I'm sorry to hear about yours. Hope they fix it right.

 

[Silver 03 Cobra]

Don't ever let them replace a pinion seal by simply popping out the old one and knocking in a new one while the differential is still in the car with the half shafts installed. You can not reuse the crush sleeve and the torque on the nut has to be set to a free running specification and that can't be done with the drag from the HS's. I had mine in for the broken TOB retainer and when I picked it up they said they had taken care of my pinion seal leak by the way. I didn't have a "leak". I had a small residue that would have been good for a long time. They fixed it under warranty even though they knew I had installed 4.10 gears. It didn't cost much anyway by simply remving the nut, flange and then replacing the seal. I started to ask them how they reused the crush sleeve and how much torque to free wheel my pinion. I was mad as hell. I didn't ask them to touch that and they should have asked and it shouldn't have been done under warranty anyway. I didn't raise hell. I was going to install 3.90 gears a couple of weeks later anyway. A week after they fixed the "leak", I didn't have a film of residue, I had Niagra Falls. When I finally pulled the differential for the 3.90's they had the nut so tight on the pinion I could turn the flange with both hands. Another 1000 miles and I'd heard crunch, crunch when my bearing decided to fail. You need to install a good aftermarket pnion seal and put a good coat of RTV in the corner before knocking it back in the rear. The dealer did not put any on it. Turned out the service advisor was fired a few days after my car went through. I never complained. Makes me wonder if they read my post on here about the story. I'm sure Ford reads these boards. I bet they like to read how a dealer is doing warranty on a differential I installed 4.10 gears. I could have taken it back but they would have done the same damn thing. Unless it's a large expensive repair, the dealer won't see my car.

 

[Weasel]

Silver03,

Very interesting. That explains why, after they checked out mine and told me that the rear was blown, they told me "...that they shouldn't have just replaced the pinion seal." When they replaced the seal they had it in and out in no time at all. So, they didn't disconnect the halfshafts or else they would have listed it on the job order.
Doesn't speak well; they should know better. I'm sure the job is now a whole bunch more expensive than it would have been. They'll have to eat this one.

Thanks for the info.
Mike