hi

just had my dealer do some work on my 92 rs 305 tbi w/ 150 k miles.

they said the pinion seal needed replacement and they did differential service..

got home and looked under car, the differential cover (which has never been removed or serviced ,im the original owner) which is filthy dirty and greasy looks like it was not removed. the bolts are all still covered in dirt and grease.

also the torque arm at the differntial is filthy , i suppose from the pinion seal leak, and those bolts at the differential are dirty and do not look like they were removed.

is there any way to do this work and not touch these bolts? or have i been ripped off?

thanks john

 

you just got ripped off man, there is no way to service the differential without taking the cover off. the torque arm is kinda in the way of the pinion so that shoulda been removed as well.

 

Yep, sounds like you got ripped dude.
Take it back and raise hell.

On another note, getting the pinion seal replaced probably shouldn't be a real high priority. Pretty much all RWD GM vehicles have a pinion seal leak. The new seals won't last very long. Unless it gets excessive, I wouldn't worry about it. Just my $0.02.

 

if it has a removable plug in the diff cover they could have changed the gear oil without removing the cover

 

How's the gasket look? Does it look like there's any residual grease right under the pumpkin where the cover seats?

I've had mine off a few times (not for the pinion seal though) and other than the gasket looking new, you'd never be able to tell.

The bolts for the cover use such a small amount of torque, there's no real reason they'd look like they've been removed based on dirt or rust. Mine looked just as dirty and rusty after I put everthing back together as they did before I took them off.

Another way to tell is pull the filler plug on the upper right (passenger side), stick your pinky finger in there and see if the gear lube looks somewhat fresh. It will not look clean clean, but you should be able to tell if it was changed.

FYI, you don't have to drain the gear lube to change the pinion shaft. They should have, but they don't "have" to.

 

I was going to say the same thing. You don't need to remove the cover to change the pinion seal. You do have to remove the driveshaft, & yoke. Technically an oil change is not needed, or any internal differential service.

Ron