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Hey everybody. So, I noticed the other day after changing my oil that there was oil towards the back of the car. Upon further inspection, I found that oil was slung all over the exhaust right at the driveshaft/yoke connection to the differential. So, I'm pretty sure that I have a bad pinion seal. A friend of mine at work has a 2014 and the same thing happened to him at ~40k miles. Everybody I talk to says that the seal shouldn't go bad so soon. I couldn't find any TSB's for this., but after doing some reading here and in other places, I think this is a pretty common issue. I called the dealership and they said they knew nothing about it and I would have to pay to have it fixed for $450. This is crazy (it's 4 bolts, a nut and a seal...that's it). So, I am having a local shop do it for ~$100 (much more reasonable). I would do it myself, but it's not so easy laying down on the ground to do this.
I'm wondering if Deysha can help me with this? I've attached pictures to show everybody.
You can see the dark spots on the exhaust where the oil has burned on...right at the pinion seal area on the differential
Deysha hasn't been on this forum in about 3 years; she's on S550 forums these days. Seems like that would fall under the 5/60 powertrain warranty though!
Have you noticed any noise coming from your rear end?
There is another topic in warranty issues about whirring noise from the rear ends and I believe that I read one of the causes was the pinion bearing wearing out because the bearing seat isn't square with the pinion. There are some other issues too.
Have you noticed any noise coming from your rear end?
There is another topic in warranty issues about whirring noise from the rear ends and I believe that I read one of the causes was the pinion bearing wearing out because the bearing seat isn't square with the pinion. There are some other issues too.
Hi 13GetThere,
I have not, but I have read somewhere on one of these forums that somebody sent the differential casting back for measurement and they found the bearing press-in hole to be out of alignment (similar to what you mention above). I can't find a reliable source for the Ford TSB's. I know there is the FORD TSB ARTICLE # 12-8-15 that references the vent leaking (which mine did), but I cannot find anything on the pinion seal itself.
A friend of mine with a 2014 mustang had his fail at 45k, so they fixed it under warranty. So, I know there has to be an issue.
I had a local shop put in a new seal and fluid (that I purchased myself) and they did it for half of what Ford was going to charge me.
But....6,300 miles later...guess what...my pinion seal is leaking...again. So, I think it is related to the casting. Any info from anybody would be awesome!
Hello SpectreH,
Yes, it is sadly out of warranty. However, the seal should last at least 100,000 miles if not 150k or 200k. I have another seal leak 6,300 miles after I got the new seal in. I'm super frustrated.
Ok, so I replaced the axle vent with a Genuine Ford Axel vent 4R3Z-4022-AA (just in case) and a new pinion seal. Wanted the Ford pinion seal BR3Z-4676-A, but couldn't get it delivered in time. I picked up a National 3604 seal from the local auto parts store right down the road. I have the Ford seal now on hand, just in case I have to do this job for the 3rd time. Fingers crossed...This was the first time I did it myself (had a local shop to it last time). This way, I could look at everything. Found a great article on how to do this. http://www.mustangandfords.com/how-t...h-pinion-seal/
I did notice a little grooving in the yoke shaft (see pictures). This is very very slight. The diff housing inner diameter didn't have any knicks or dings in it, so I know it is good. If the seal starts to leak again, I will replace the yoke as well. Hopefully I have it fixed though.
One other thing to mention...I did not torque the pinion nut down enough the first time (had some lout whine on the deceleration from 40 mph through 30 mph). I looked online and found Ford documentation that says 140 ft-lb minimum, so that is what I torqued to the 2nd time. Still a little whine on the decel through the 40 mph to 30 mph speed range, but much better. But to be honest, I don't remember if that is how it was before or not. I am definitely more conscious of it now. I will monitor and if it gets worse, I will torque more (I know I have read people going to 180 or 200 ft lb), but I don't want to have too much bearing preload. However, there is no true spec for this pinion nut. The spec is on the torque it takes to rotate the pinion shaft itself (without the ring gear in the differential). "Pinion bearing preload with used bearings to 0.9-1.6 Nm (8-14 lb-in), and new bearings to 1.8-3.2 Nm (16-28 lb-in.)" from https://performanceparts.ford.com/do...htM-4209-8.pdf. This cannot be done/determined properly without disassembling the entire differential and I am not doing that. I know that people will also say that the crush sleeve needs to be replaced if the pinion nut is removed, but I don't have access to the tools to do that. I read it can take upwards of 600 ft lbs to do that.
It is interesting because I found the service instructions from Ford to just replace the pinion seal and it doesn't even call out a torque for the pinion nut. All it says is "Tighten the nut to set the preload...Refer to the torque specification for used differential pinion bearings in the Specifications portion of this section". I don't see a "specifications" section in the document. Perhaps it is on a different page that is not included in the PDF. I tried searching for the entire document, but couldn't find anything else http://www.paladinmicro.com/document...nSealRnR01.pdf
5/29/18, 07:27 PM
