dieselJon

And I pull into the hotel where we are staying for my cuz's wedding. Well my bro helps me unload the truck and we notice oil dripping from my rear-end. I look at it as I just redid the oil and put on some RTV gasket maker to make it stop leaking. Nope, I blew the front seal. I drove 400+ mile like that. The under-side o the bed is COATED with oil and a steady drip....drip....drip is happening. The only thing that I can think that might have done is this. I leave home at about 3:30 am in pouring rain, had been raining since midnight. I go into this old under pass on my way to the highway. I just saw a semi come outta there at a good speed. Well the brights on this truck are horrible so I am going about 40-45mph. I get down there and water just blew up over the hood! To make matters worse, I HAD a little hole (about 4" diameter) in the passenger floor board. Now it is about 6-7" wide. Water folded the rubber mat backwards and let a little water in. So I pull over, fix the mat, sit and wait while watching the gauges for a minute making sure I didn't blow anything up. Nothing. The low fuel light came on for about 10 mins afterwards but nothing seems wrong. Did I blow up the rear-end? How hard is it the replace the front seal? Can I get home by just adding more oil and saying some major prayers? HELP!

BTW, I am in Sleepy Eye MN, about 2 hours (guessing) from the twin cities.

Thanks!

Jon

leper

How far up is your vent tube on the diff? If it is missing, or real short, you may have sucked a bunch of water in to the diff. If that is the case, pull the cover and dispose of the oil/water and refill it and go on your merry way. If you pull the fill plug and a bunch of chocholate milk comes out, you have water in the diff. It should come out pretty fast.

dieselJon

The vent tube is mounted close to the bed way up. How do you explain the oil all under the bed? Or it still dripping off the pumpkin?

Thanks for the info! I will have to try it.

Jon

leper

If the vent tube is missing or damaged it is possible to take on water and the heat and movement will push the excess back out. If the diff was too full, the pressure can pop the seal out and it can sling all over due to the rotation of the driveshaft and wind.

It is possible that the oil leak is from the motor and just blowing back and collecting on the diff pumpkin.

Chrisreyn

Jon, its possible the leak is at the tranny out-put seal as well, if the entire underside of the bed and front of the fuel tank is oil covered, looking like an under-coating, then I'd bet money its the tranny seal, thats exactly what mine did when it went south....coated the bed, the axle tube, diff and everything else like a spary-on undercoating
not a hard fix at all if ya got a big enough wrench for the out put shaft nut...

dieselJon

Ok, I am starting to stop worrying. I went to the truck and took "samples" of the oil on my finger. Murky brown but no smell?? I took a sample off the bed, the pumpkin, and the quarter size puddle beneath it. All the same. So I took a wire that was in my truck, pulled the plug on the diff, and stuck the wire in. The oil level was about 1/2"-3/4" below the fill plug. I was pleasently surprised, to say the least. The only thing I can think of is this, water DID get in there and was pushed out, engine blow-by or, the most likely cause, water still on there from coming through it for about 5 hours this AM. But I am keeping a eye on it.

Thanks for all the help!

Jon

wannadiesel

Check the trans and transfer case before you relax.

dieselJon

Ok, Chris, I just read your post after posting mine. Wouldn't oil come from the tansfer case VS the getty? I just filled the getty up with oil 2 weeks ago. For not having been changed in a LONG time (both drain and fill nuts were hard to get off) I got 2+ quarts outta her. She does leak a little out of the drain plug, so I expected it to be a little low.

Jon

dieselJon

Don't get me worried now! I need to get back to work Monday, Friday night and all day saturday are booked. The transfer case does leak oil but out the front drive seal and a little out the rear seal. How do I check oil in the tc?

Thanks!

wannadiesel

Should be two plugs (big bolts with very thin heads) on the backside of the xfer case. Top one is fill, it takes 90 weight gear oil.

MoparMarv

A little oil will look bad some times when caught in the airflow. check all your vents when you get the chance. TC doesn't take much oil from what I remember, maybe 2 quarts. My has a leaking rear seal and makes a mess.

dieselJon

Ok, here is what happened. The guy who my cuz is marrying, a very good guy, said to take it to his buddy, swears up and down by him as a mechanic. I took it to him and he said yep, I blew the front seal. So he gets on the phone and gets off. There are evidently 3 kinds of front seals for this truck. The parts store has 2 of the 3, but the 3rd can be here by tomorrow. So he said that I would have to wait until they had the lift open for the rest of the day, he didn't want to tie up the lift in case it was that 3rd seal. I get a cal 3 hours later saying it is done! They had the seal and it only cost me $66 and some change!

Thanks for all the help guys!

Jon

pwrtripls1

the seal only costs $13 (i replaced mine) so he must have just charged 1/2 hour labor. Not a bad deal at all.

dieselJon

20 for seal, 1/2 hour of labor, and oil.

Jon

leper

glad to hear you are running again.