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Drivetrain leaks EVERYWHERE
Topic Started: Jan 11 2012, 06:23 PM (727 Views)
TehWubz
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Went and got the oil changed today on my grandfathers 3.9 and brought it home to check all the fluids and do a general service to everything. I looked underneath and found this:
1. the transmission fluid reservoir/pan is leaking
2. my rear differential is leaking at the flange that connects it to the drive shaft
3. my front differential is leaking at the passenger side cv axle

i have a couple questions:
1. can i take the rear differential cover off without the internals falling out all over the place and making a huge mess?
2. are transmission pan seals expensive? and if the pan is cracked is that an expensive replacement?
3. how do i go about troubleshooting the leak for the front differential? it seems a lot less is visible on the front end; does anyone have experience with this?

any help would be much appreciated. i'm about ready to light the damn thing on fire.
I like it when people tell me I can't do something; it gives me something to do tomorrow...
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00DakotaQC
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Well I can send a lighter?? Will that help lol. Other then that sorry not much help. My tranny leaks a bit but nothing major and can't trace it to where it's coming from. Annoying as hell but what you do.

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commeeche
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Its not a big deal to deal with all those, the rear diff cover can come off without having the inners falling out, just have some black rtv handy(gasket maker), 3 bottles of 75w 140 and some brake clean to clean the cover before putting it all back together, the trans seal usually comes in one of those trans filter kits, they are cheap only $20 or so depending where you go to get it, or you might be able to get just the gasket from the dealer separate but it never hurts to have extra parts. The only down side to to the trans pan is that you'll lose alot of trans fluid when you drop the pan, so either use a clean catch pan or get new fluid to top the trans back up, if you haven't serviced the trans at all since you had the truck then that may be the time to do it because the pan would have to come down anyways in order to do that job. As for the front diff, its a bit of a pain in the ass, on my 97 all the seals on the front diff where leaking and its quite an involved process to change them, the one seal was a complete train wreck and we never bothered to change it, i ended up getting rid of the truck so the next guy could deal with it, i basically rebuilt the whole truck i'm sure one seal he could deal with, hope that helps a bit
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TehWubz
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Yeah thanks meeche. Just to clarify, though, my rear diff cover isn't whats leaking. Its the cylinder that comes out of the front with the flange that connects to the drive shaft. I guess theres a seal around that somewhere? I'm not sure but I filled up the diff fluid today and it just steadily dripped from that flange area. By the time I had the fluid filled to the line, the access plug back on and pulled out of the garage there was a puddle about 5 inches by 6 inches of gear oil. Needless to say its not getting any slower now that its parked in my driveway.
Would I need to take the whole differential apart to get to that seal or does that flange slide out by itself?
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commeeche
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No you shouldn't have to take the whole diff apart. To fix that leak you will need to take the driveshaft out unfortunately. I would go to the dealer for that seal, all the auto stores around where I live never carried them and if they did they where the wrong ones, so to save yourself the time and gas just go to the dealer, it isn't expensive by no means. And I looked through my factory service manual I got from Dodge and surprisingly there isn't any section in there about the rear axle, so I couldn't give any better description, the the dealer will have pictures of the rear axle and the seal you'll need
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TehWubz
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Alright awesome. Thanks a lot meeche. I was really stressing about it all day haha
I like it when people tell me I can't do something; it gives me something to do tomorrow...
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TehWubz
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One more question before I forget:

This may be unrelated, but then again it may very well be directly causing/the result of one of these leaks, but while driving down the road, whether it be dirt or pavement, there is a very distinctive humming that comes from what seems like the drivetrain. It is only steady when I press the accelerator and gets louder with speed. I want to say its the u-joints but I just don't know. Any ideas?
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CptNemo
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It could be one of your half shafts up front. The CV joints go bac and produce noise on acceleration.
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TehWubz
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Would that come from the internal mechanism or just from looseness? I put my hand on them and checked for any movement and they were tight on both ends.
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CptNemo
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Internal to the main front short axel
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commeeche
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I'd agree with Nemo, i would say maybe the shafts up front, depending on how bad the leaks are up front, if the oil level gets low enough it will start to make a humming noise, I know on the 97 it was impossible to add fluid to the front diff with the relation of all the parts everywhere and besides dodge put a part of the frame right in front of the plug so the only way to add fluid would have been to drop the whole front axle, you couldn't get any tools in there to loosen it, it was a really dumb design
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CptNemo
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You can add fluid, it is difficult but can be done without lowering the axel. You will need a little bulb hand pump, they sell them at auto parts stores for about $6.00. They have tubing coming out of each end of the bulb. Cut the tubes shorter on each end as they do not need to be as long as they are when you purchase it. Place one end in the gear oil bottle and the other end in the axel fill hole and squeeze the bulb to pump the oil. When the oil overflows out of the fill hole it is full.Most people do not check or change their front or rear axel oil. This is bad and it should be checked and replaced just like any other fluid. A gear replacement is not cheap, just like any other replacement. A little attention and fluid replacement goes a long way in this area.
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commeeche
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I didn't know about the little bulb pump, I'll have to check that out. And you are completely right about people not changing the front diff fluid, it seems to be a forgotten about fluid for people with 4wd. Front axles are not cheap by no means, wreckers will normally charge an arm and a legs for stuff like that
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TehWubz
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Alright thanks guys. Much obliged.
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commeeche
Jan 11 2012, 10:34 PM
No you shouldn't have to take the whole diff apart. To fix that leak you will need to take the driveshaft out unfortunately. I would go to the dealer for that seal, all the auto stores around where I live never carried them and if they did they where the wrong ones, so to save yourself the time and gas just go to the dealer, it isn't expensive by no means. And I looked through my factory service manual I got from Dodge and surprisingly there isn't any section in there about the rear axle, so I couldn't give any better description, the the dealer will have pictures of the rear axle and the seal you'll need
Get an oversized seal since alot of times the seal itself wears a groove in the yolk and the new seal wont be tight enough to completely stop the leak. Easy to pop the old out with a screwdriver and tap the new in softly and evenly around unless uoi have a board or socket thats the same size. As far as the pan gasket and differental gaskets, cheap , but sometimes just a little tightening up works. But tighten them evenly
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