Leaking diff seals

[fesuvious]

For the first time since I bought her (last week) from Paul Matty I stuck my S4S in the air last night. Their is definately a leak from the driveshaft seals. Not huge, but a leak nontheless. I am just wondering if anyone knows the rough price of the seals and if there are any model specific 'do's and don'ts' for this job, on this car?

Thanks

[Jonathan]

Depends how bad the leak is.

All hydraulics leak as it happens, if it's not to sever (drip here and there) I'd be tempted to leave it for the time being and see how it goes.

If you're losing enough that you can see the level dropping then it's time to fix.

My gearbox on the GT3 leaks from the case, seals and the drain plug but it only requires an egg cup or so to re-fill every 6 months or so so it's not worth the effort.

Seals are the same for all UN1 boxes.

I done mine on the GT2 with the box out and even then it was hard, it's certainly a job I personally would leave to someone who knows that they are doing.

A lot of the time I hear of damaged seals when inserting, and people forget the little O-Ring.

Infact tyhe O-Ring is often the cause of a leak, been damaged or just old, people commonly overlook it's importance when replacing.

Finally check the concentric roll pins in the output shaft, they should be oposite and opposed, fliud usually leaks out of them and people often put a dob of silicone sealant inside that pin to stop leaks, might be worth a look.

Lastly dont under any circumstances be tempted to take off the huge castalated nut on the gearbox, thats the pre-load for the diff and not an easy way to change the seal as my PO mechanic thought

My breif collection of pics might help you understand my gabble...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonhimself/sets/72157619525054983/

[cjtpb13]

Not sure of the price, I had mine replaced almost two years ago and unfortunately I am thousand and thousands of miles away from my files. Though fairly easy to install but key to remember that they are in at different depths, one side in slightly deeper than the other. View the service notes for specifics. There is a specialist Lotus tool for the installation. But I saw the other day in the UK ( mention no names...lol ) how they were installed utilising a part of a car jack stand. Worked quite amazingly well.

Edited April 4, 2010 by cjtpb13