Well, I think I have a pinion seal leak in my rear end. It at least, has been very slow, and going for some time. Its so slow that unless the car sits in one place for a while, I'd probably never know it was leaking. This summer it sat for most of the summer, and I now have a puddle about 1/2' in diameter under the driveshaft yoke. I checked the fluid level, and I', about 1" to 1.5" low, but have a higher capacity diff cover. If I am going to drive it, it would be 100 miles tonight, then maybe 2-3 miles a weekday, then 100 miles back Thursday night hopefully to the dealer to get the leak fixed.

Now why not just add some oil to it? Its redline shockproof oil lightweight. I have some heavy duty stuff here as I planned on having the dealer put the heavy duty stuff in when I read it was for "Racing, Heavy towing, and 'Problem Gearboxes'". I figured I've blown 4 sets of gears, so I think mine counts as a "Problem Gearbox" lol. I don't know if these oils can be mixed.

My gut says leave it here, get the appointment with the dealer, get a ride home early friday morning, and drop the car off at the dealer, or maybe even get a ride home earlier in the week to drop it off, but from what I understand, the pinion seal should be ~1 hour job, so I don't think they should need much time..

So am I being paranoid leaving it here because of my past experience with this gearbox, or should there really be no problem and I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill?

Thanks

 

Mine leaks. Has for two years. I have replaced the seal sevearl times and it keeps coming back. Pesky drivetrain vibrations!!!

I am at the point now I just regularly check the level, and add accordingly... I need to get a new driveshaft and see if it will stop leaking w/ a new seal then...

 

It's not the best to mix conventional and synthetic oils, and different kinds of synthetics. The different chemicals and additives used in each oil can break the lubricant down. I'd get a bottle of what you're using to top it off.

 

Is that why you don't have to flush your oil system when you swap from conventional oil to synthetic oil?

 

Are we talking rear ends only here, cause that is the exact opposite of what I have always been told. I dont think it would matter for rears either.

 

Well, schools canceled tomorrow, probably because of the flooding Harrisburg had from Ivan, so I'll call up the dealer tomorrow and see if I can drop it off with them before I go, then pick it up this weekend.

I was only talking about rears here, and only since I am using Redlines Shockproof gear oil, I wasnt sure how that'd interact...Now if I can just get emissions routing info on the LT1 I'd be all set!

 

It's what I've always been told, and what I've always followed. Since I don't know any chemists to discuss the matter with, it's the method I follow. I don't want to risk futzing my car over an inconvenience of running into town for a quart of oil.

 

 

I only phrased it like that because asking around locally led people to think I was talking about the pinion of the rack and pinion for the steering lol, seems I just cant win! I also said I think because some people have talked about the "splines" leaking....and since the last time I attemted working on the "final drive" of the car ended in needing the work done again 7 months later.....then professionally done....and seven months later and so on, basically, I'm spooked by the thing, and refuse to go near it! So splines or pinion, I don't care, I think its the seal but I am not going to even look at it as the car may be insulted at my looking at its rear end and decide to break wind, I mean gears again.

So yeah, theres the reason for my word choice lol