Rear end leak...
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Teching In
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 9
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From: Savannah
Rear end leak... As I've mentioned in another thread I am in the market possibly for a T/A. I have a friend who has a 98 SS and has had problems with his rear diff leaking. From my research, I have found that this leak seems to be very common in these cars. However, in my research, I could not find a solid fix to the problem. I know some people say "just get a better rear end", but that is obviously pretty expensive. My question is, is there a reasonable solution to this problem? My friend has replaced his (rear diff seal) twice and driven it less than 5,000 miles. Is there anything that can be done other than replacing the rear end or just "letting it leak"? Also, while I'm at it, I know these rears aren't great at the track, but do they hold up fairly well for daily driving and maybe an occasional "getting on it"? Thanks in advance.
BTW, I've used the search over and over and haven't found any concrete solutions to the problem.
BTW, I've used the search over and over and haven't found any concrete solutions to the problem.
I've found a solution to the problem.
I put gears in my rear last year, at that time no parts store had the right pinion seal. Tell them you have a 2002 camaro and they hand you the wrong one.
What I didn't realize is that the pinion seal is two pieces from the factory, one piece goes on the yoke and one goes in the housing.
It's still the same old yoke they've used since the 7.5 was first produced, just now they slide a seal over it and it requires a housing seal with a larger inside diameter.
What I did was clamp the yoke in a vise and use two screw drivers to slide the seal off the yoke, and leave it off.
Then get the old seal that everyone stocks, degrease the housing, put some red loctite on the OD of the seal, grease the rubber ID and install it into the housing.
Then when you put the yoke on seal the splines You'll notice GM used some white sealer. I had some ARP thread sealant and used that.
Thats for the seal, you still need to get the preload set and all that and I'm not getting into all that.
I put gears in my rear last year, at that time no parts store had the right pinion seal. Tell them you have a 2002 camaro and they hand you the wrong one.
What I didn't realize is that the pinion seal is two pieces from the factory, one piece goes on the yoke and one goes in the housing.
It's still the same old yoke they've used since the 7.5 was first produced, just now they slide a seal over it and it requires a housing seal with a larger inside diameter.
What I did was clamp the yoke in a vise and use two screw drivers to slide the seal off the yoke, and leave it off.
Then get the old seal that everyone stocks, degrease the housing, put some red loctite on the OD of the seal, grease the rubber ID and install it into the housing.
Then when you put the yoke on seal the splines You'll notice GM used some white sealer. I had some ARP thread sealant and used that.
Thats for the seal, you still need to get the preload set and all that and I'm not getting into all that.
Yes, they all leak, but it really has nothing to do with whether or not the rear end is any good. I'm a service manager and former Audi technician and I can tell you that pinion seals leak on pretty much every differential setup. I see many fords and jeeps that have terrible pinion seal leaks at 50-60 thousand miles. It's not a big deal and the repair is not that terrible. I recently did the pinion seal on my SS. It had been leaking pretty bad for about 30k miles. Took me all of 35 minutes or so. We charge around $130 to customers so it's not a terrible expense if you can't do it yourself. The factory 10 bolt is a very weak point on these cars when upgrading. Mine has 113k on it and has never been rebuilt, just regular fluid changes. This has included 1 autocross and about 5 trips to the strip and regular flogging as a daily driver. If you plan on keeping the car around stock power, it will likely be fine for you, if you are going to upgrade, make a new rear part of your plan, you'll need it.
