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This is Martin in Tustin CA. My car is a 2005 X-Type estate wagon in BRG with tan interior.
Have posted before on issues regarding headlight / dash light problems with very helpful responses.
Noticed fluid drip on parking the car and got diagnosed as failing seals in the transfer case, both the main output seal to the driveshaft and the smaller seal to the right hand front wheel output shaft.
Does anyone know what the labor hours are for replacing both seals? Have already obtained the parts from Terry's.
Also, what is the preferred fluid for refilling the transfer case?
Thanks very much for your responses.
Before you start ripping everything apart, has the transfer box, by any chance been refilled lately? I ask this because if it's been overfilled, the excess will be blown out of the vent on top of the box, then run down and over the righthand output shaft looking like an oil seal failure and maybe like a main output shaft seal failure too.
Astromorg/Portsmouth England
Thank you for the advice regarding my X-Type transfer case leaks.
The car went up on the lift and I was able to see oil seepage directly from the main and wheel shaft openings.
In this situation, the tech advised obtaining the seals for the main shaft outbound and for the front wheel shaft outbound only.
No mention made of removing the entire transfer case mechanism or any other seal problems.
Sounds like I might be receiving poor advice on this end, if in fact all seals including internal should be replaced at the same time?
Appreciate your thoughts on this as I would like to not remove the transfer case unless necessary but not sure I should
trust the tech advise without question
Best Regards,
Martin, in the Calfornia desert
The Jaguar method for the replacement of the rear seal does not require the transfer box to be removed, however, it needs the complete output pinion housing to be removed, stripped down and then re-assembled, putting the correct amount of pre-load onto the taper roller bearings before the housing is put back in the box. This TSB will also need to be followed.
Unfortunately, the righthand drive shaft seal does require the TB to be removed if the job is to be done correctly. This is because the part of the drive shaft that passes through the outer seal is held in place inside the TB with a snap ring and if this shaft is just pulled out, as would be a conventional drive shaft, the snap ring will have to be pulled through the internal seal arrangement that keeps the TB oil and the main gearbox oil apart. The sharp ends of the snap ring may damage the seal allowing the two fluids to mix. Not good!
With the TB removed there is access to the snap ring so it can be removed and the shaft safely removed.
There are, of course, chancers who, to avoid removing the TB, just pull the shaft out and hope the internal seals survive. Sometimes they get away with it, sometimes they don't.
This drawing shows the arrangement within the TB. Note the snap ring on the lefthand end of the link shaft and the double seal arrangement that can be damaged
Having said all that, your mechanic may feel he can change both seals with their respective shafts still in situ. It all depends on his experience and skill.
The oil should be a 75W-140, limited slip hypoid gear oil. I use Castrol Syntrax Limited Slip 75W 140 Fully Synthetic Hypoid Gear Oil which is the latest version of the oil used by Jaguar originally. (It's well known that none of the three diffs in the X type are limited slip, but that's the oil used by Jaguar!)