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2015 R differential leak "fixed" but then leaked again
A few months ago, I took my 2015 R Coupe in to have a small differential weep fixed. Took the service department a week to fix it (pinion seal needed to be ordered), but now the differential has started leaking again, and it looks like it's from the exact same pinion seal. It has been roughly a month and a half and I have only done 550 miles since the leak was supposedly fixed. The catch is, back when I had this first addressed, my car was still under CPO warranty. I am now about a month outside of the warranty period. I get the impression that this should still be covered, but would like to get all of your opinions on this.
Edit:
To clarify, I am only noticing the weeping after I have driven the car for a while, so I'm assuming that this might be temperature related in some way? I have done the breather tube cleaning (it was absolutely filthy), but this weeping seems to continue happening as I drive to any particular distance. After I wiped off the diff and left the car to sit in my garage for a few days, I did not notice more oil bleeding down the casing, but again, the weeping starts up again when I drive longer distance or indulge in a bit of fun.
Last edited by Whalesmash; 12-29-2020 at 10:45 PM.
Here is my opinion. Any dealer, from Ford to Jaguar, provides a warranty on repairs that they do. Usually 12 months or 12,000 miles. In this instance, the only thing different is who "paid" for the last fix. Jaguar paid for it. There should be some warranty on a repair, even if from a warranty period.
They should stand behind their work.
I would expect, however, that they will say there is some residual leakage and that there is no problem. You should document it with pictures.
Thanks for the replies so far. I've started documenting and have also gone ahead and contacted my service rep. They asked me to bring the car in for another look. For reference, I've taken a before + after picture of a roughly 25 mile spirited drive. I wiped off the ridges of the differential prior to taking the drive just to have further contrast between the two. At least I have yet to notice any odd thunking or other strange noises coming from the differential. Fingers crossed I'm not in the red yet.
Hopefully the dealer will stand by their repair. If this oil seal is like other similar lip seals, all it takes is a small bur on the housing or improper technique when driving in the new seal to cause a leak. I've hammered in plenty new oil seals with a piece of 2x4 and a dead blow hammer and never had one leak and it wasn't exactly a delicate process either lol. Hopefully you get it sorted in short order.
Great pictures......Per the above, many times putting the seal in is just half the battle. You can put in the seal successfully, but the reassembly may be slightly canted and that may cause the leak. They certainly do take patience and are easy to screw up if you use force on the wrong portion of the seal.
I have a vague memory of discussion for the need to properly shim the driveshaft, but I don’t recall (or know enough) if it’s related to replacing the pinion seal.