Diff. Front Pinion Oil Seal

[KJR]

Guys,

just got the 400 SE through it's MOT .

While it was up on the ramps I got the chance to find the source of an oil leak at the rear of the car which turns out to be the Front Pinion oil seal on the diff..

So can this be fixed in situ or does the diff have to come out ?

TIA,

KJR.

[paul gotts]

I think that it's a full strip down to replace the oil seal, as there is a crush washer behind the pinion nut which gives the correct pre-load to the pinion bearing. The nuts are known to slacken off on their own (mine did) which causes vibration, particularly when lifting off the throttle. Unfortunately, if you just tighten the nut up again, you will not be putting the correct pre-load on the bearing because the crush washer has already been.....well, crushed. I did try that myself for a while, and even cleaning the threads and applying thread sealant before tightening to about 80 lbs, it undid itself again. As the diff. had done 130K anyway, I decided to have it rebuilt. As long as the nut hasn't loosened off, and you're not losing lots of oil, I would leave it alone, and just keep an eye on the oil level.

[KJR]

Thanks for the info Paul.

I will keep an eye on the oil usage fro the moment.

KJR.