Regarding the diff leak after jacking: I jacked the car up two or three
times, positioning the jack directly under the differential, for work
unrelated to the differential. After that, it began to drip. The leaks
were from the diff cover (it had no gasket!) and are from the pinion seal.
I should add it was only after putting a gasket in place that I
noticed a caution in one of my manuals. It said to leave the nut off the
filler hole for five minutes after filling the diff, so that it would not
be overfilled. Since we neglected that, some of the pinion leak might be
due to overfilling. In any case, a friend will soon change the pinion seal
for me.
With regard to the stress on the axle tubes (which do not seem to be
leaking): I calculated that when jacking under the diff, the shear stress
where the axle tubes join the diff is four to five times the stress when
the car is at rest on its tires and the bending moment disparity is
probably even greater.
John Cowan
At 07:41 AM 9/1/2000, Westerdale, Bob wrote:
>Aw C'mon.... They all leak, right from the factory. A bigwig in the Brit
>Leyland Service organization I once knew explained that all their cars
>exhibit a degree of " Controlled Seepage" and that it was perfectly normal.
>I think maybe a more appropriate term might be
>"Active Undercoating".
> I would be curious to know if John Cowan's leak developed after he
>filled the pumpkin.
>(not trying to be rude here...) When you jack up the car at the rear and
>fill up the diff, I think you get a bit of an overfill, because of the
>nose-down attitude. When you return to level, static laden, the higher oil
>level may very well be reaching the back of the pinion's oil seal. Anything
>less than a perfect seal is going to let a bit 'o 90W drool out on the
>garage floor. I just can't see the axle tubes developing a leak at the
>Pumpkin casting interface because of a jacking exercise. Think of the
>stresses on this junction when you are spinning the wheels on a bumpy
>potholed 'road'. I doubt the jack-leak connection... (JMHO)
>Bob Westerdale
>Knee deep in kitty litter
>
>
>Thanks!
>
>What say you, listers? Did this happen to anyone else?
>
>From: John Cowan <jfcowan@pacbell.net>
> > The shop manual says jacking on the pumpkin is ok, but in my case it
> >caused the diff to leak.
>
>Phil Ethier Saint Paul Minnesota USA
>1970 Lotus Europa, 1992 Saturn SL2, 1986 Chev Suburban, 1962 Triumph TR4
>LOON, MAC pethier@isd.net http://www.mnautox.com/
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