Daytona pinion seal replacement

Can you be more specific? As it is a transaxle, the "pinion seal" would be the input shaft seal. You can do without removing the transaxle but it will still need to be disconnected and slid back far enough to get the torque tube out. Then the seal can be changed. It may be easier to just pull the transaxle out and leave the torque tube in place. I haven't had one out in many years so I am just going off memory.

 

On a Daytona you have to remove the transaxle first, then you can remove the torque tube. There is no "splitting the transaxle housing case" on a Daytona. If you look at how it is constructed, there is a main housing, a front cover and a cover on the left side. The seal is in front cover, which can be replaced on once the driveshaft coupling on the input shaft of the transaxle has been removed.

You do run the risk of having the transaxle leak at the gasket between the front cover and the main housing if you remove it, as the studs that secure the torque tube to the transaxle also apply pressure to this joint. I recommend draining the lubricant from the gearbox before removing it to lessen the risk of a leak after the repair.

 

I don't remember a snap ring holding the seal. You should be able to pull the seal and install a new one without much issue.

 

The seal is just pressed into a bore in the front cover, no snap ring. I put spacers/washers and nuts on the front studs of the transaxle, the same thickness as the end plate of the torque tube, while I am working on it, replacing the seal.

This keeps pressure on the gasket joint between the front cover and main housing, to prevent the seal of the gasket from getting broken and leaking oil.

Be glad it is not a 275GTB or 275GTS, for some reason Ferrari put a lip on the outside of the front cover. So in order to replace the front seal, you would have to remove the front cover to access the seal from the inside.

 

On a transaxle the age and simplicity of a Daytona since it requires removal I'd consider resealing it. Not doing so runs the risk of it springing a leak from another aged source after this repair. The cost in parts is literally pocket money.

 

Use better oil.

 

Ha Ha!

 

I am serious. For one thing I put it in a clients car on request. He was back a couple days later to have it drained back out.

 

What are you using these days? My preference is Swepco 201 80W-90 in transaxles and Joe Gibbs Driven Racing 80W-90 GL4 in regular gearboxes. I recently rebuilt a gearbox in a 1959 250 TDF and used the Driven oil, and it shifted very nicely .
Our shop has the Driven Racing GL5 gear oil, but I have not tried it in a transaxle yet. I just rebuilt a 246GTS transaxle, but used Swepco 201 as an assembly lube since I know that it works.

 

not Brian here, but i use Mobile 1 in my daytona with 1/2 to 1 tube friction modifier.

 

Hate to say it but I quit drinking the Kool Aid with Swepco a long time ago. Cold shifting sucked and it takes a long time to heat up 18 pints of gear oil. Redline, Mobile 1 and Shell are all better. Hot many are OK but well into the 21st century skipping gears because of Victorian era oil isnt acceptable. I can shift either of ours into any gear, up or down stone cold like its a Miata.

 

I've had real good luck with Motul gear oils. I've also been running Liqui Moly but will be switching back to Motul gear oil I think.

Brian, have you ever used Motul's 300 gear oil in any Ferrari transmissions and if so what's your opinion of it?

Ray

 

It is my understanding that syns do not cause leaks - but they will make any existing leak much worse.

 

I just moved out of a house we lived in for 10 years. It was new when we moved in. 3 cars parked in that garage for those 10 yeas always in the same place. All 3 had nothing but synthetics.
The concrete had a small oil stain the size of a golf ball under the 328. A small stain the size of a grapefruit under the Testarossa and an overflowing drip pan under the E55 Mercedes. Oil leaks are a reflection of the quality of the car, not the oil you use.

 

Quite agree, best we do not mention certain British cars!