New pinion seal is leaking like crazy!!!!!

[kitra]

Ongoing crap. Had the Dealer replace the rear differential pinion seal last Saturday for $180. They said the pinion bearings are gritty. Today we drove it 160 miles and when we got home, the whole underside of the vehicle in back was dripping with gear oil. It had never leaked like that before. I called the Ford Dealer and they said it's leaking because the pinion bearings are damaged so there is no coverage for their repair. I can't feel any play in the pinion. Anyway, they said they can fix it for $12-1500 by rebuilding the whole differential. In my earlier post, several said to take it to a transmission shop for a rebuild. (Quoted $750) Would the pinion seal leak if the pinion bearings are worn or is the Dealer trying to avoid having to do the work over on their nickel? Might be hard to tell without seeing my vehicle but as it is, I'm out $180. Bums me out as we are down to one income and wasting money is NOT an option.

Thanks

 

[scucci]

Reasons for new pinion seals to leak:
1 Improperly seated in the housing,crushed/****ed, lack of seal on outside
2 Seal lip nicked installing companion flange
3 Grove worn in companion flange seal surface
4 Garter spring dislodged when installing companion flange
5 Excessive pinion shaft movement from worn or incorrectly preloaded bearings
6 Over filled differential or blocked vent
7 Wrong seal installed

 

[robertoa1a]

I understand your frustration. If you pay a " trusted mechanic", then they stick you with a third bill. That's pretty messed up.

The Ford 8.8" rear end from 2nd gen explorer is one that there is a lot of available parts for. Hot rodders love them!

It sounds like You have a day job where you don't have a lot of time to rebuild the rear yourself, or you don't have the tools.

I'm not sure what you are asking. There are entire books on rebuilding a 8.8".

 

[kitra]

I was asking the long way around if the seal may be incorrectly installed?

It just seems like gear oil is really leaking out now. Before it was leaking slowly but apparently the oil level was low enough to damage the pinion bearings as the noted roughness from the mechanic. I just wonder if the new seal was installed correctly? Yes, I work lots of hours and am lacking some of the specialized tools such as a: pinion bearing seal installer, a 0-30 inch-pound dial type torque meter, and a pinion bearing race installer tool. I'm quite certain I could rebuild the differential if I had the tools and the time. I could probably make the time as I did for the engine top-end rebuild. I guess setting the pinion protrusion is the toughest part, however, maybe retaining the original shims would get it close?

 

[my98nnj]

I would go back to the dealer and talk to them a bit more. As you stated, it wasn't leaking that bad before the seal was replaced. I'd imagain, even if the bearing wasn't in the best shape a new seal wouldn't leak as much as the old one did. In your case it got worse, which clearly indicates something went wrong with the attempted repair.