leaky gearbox

[Adrian E]

Originally Posted by Mikey-S

Just in case it's been missed, I have a brand new flange for sale in the classifieds. The updated design to incorporate the new seal. Let me know if you're interested.

Well having coughed up silly money for a new flange, it appears mine is also the revised part! Either from the factory (most likely) or before I bought the car at 8 years old and 40k miles.....

Mate just rang me to confirm he'd compared new and old and could see no difference in the machined area - he was about to pop the old seal out to confirm that's got the extended lip on it.

Bit galling as having ordered it from TPS I don't think they'll take it back, unless their ordered in parts policy is based on stuff coming from Germany rather than Milton Keynes. Guess I'll find out when I try later on!

[notorious]

Adrian, I'd suggest to replace both flange and seal anyway. Because old one is already removed it won't cost you any labour and will give you additional peace of mind there was no wear on old flange which may has leaked because of that...

[Adrian E]

Hi Sergey

It's been back together since before 12 today - the old part was inspected and the sealed surface is as new. My friend who works on the car said it basically looked no more worn than the new one.

I have kept the new flange and will see if it has fixed the problem before I return in - on the basis that the labour to do the gearbox oil change and replace the seal was £80 if it means going in there again it's only going to cost me £40 or so in time plus another seal if needed.

I have my suspicions that these seals are actually quite old and been stored for years in less than ideal conditions - it would at least in part explain why some people seem to suffer issues much more quickly after a seal change. The seal that came out of the car was intact, but obviously destroyed in the removal process.

Will put some miles on the car on Sunday driving to Slough to race toy cars so if the remaining surface oil has burnt off by then it should be possible to confirm whether the seal is now oil tight. Despite the smell of oil and the length of time it was leaking there was still plenty of oil in the centre diff, I'm told.

[Mikey-S]

I've done around 150 miles since I changed my seal, today when the car was on the ramp I had a look at the seal again and it's completely bone dry. The seal I fitted was very pliable, definitely not old stock. If yours does spring a leak, there's another trick you can try, you can pop the spring out of the seal, unscrew the part where it's joined then snip a couple of mm off it. Screw it back together then reinstall the spring into the seal. This will marginally increase the force that the seal puts on the shaft and the chances are you will have a more reliable seal. I've used this method a million times and it always works.