1982 Mondial 8... okay i have for the second time replaced the axel stub 'o' rings in the diff. the passenger side is still leaking oil and flinging it onto the exhauast creating a oh so nice smoke screen. i have tried everything i know, removed the flange and completly degreased and cleaned. degreased and cleaned the diff case the axel stub threads and bolt/washer. reassembled with anerobic sealent and the dupont silcone 'o' ring. the oil is still finding it's way past the seal and flange. current oil level is at the bottom edge of the fill hole. the strange: traveling up hill will cause the oil to escape, flat road under load i.e. pushing thru gears will not cause leaking, however lift off the throttle or cruise along in 5th not under load and it'll start leaking and smoking. drop a gear and accelerate and the leak stops. how is the load effecting the leak? i looked into the WSM and noticed that the tranny has an oil pump internaly, any ideas on how this effects the leak? i'm at the point where i'm going to fab a sheild that will just block the fyling oil from hitting the headers and be done with it. this has me pulling out my hair. anyone able to help me figure this out?
Could you have a pal follow you and see if the smoke is indeed at the point you assume it is. Going by your above notes, it seems as if the smoke could be comming from INSIDE the exhaust pipe (ie: engine rings/valve guides). It may be worth a quick drive to confirm the smoke exit. Or, you could just fabricate the splash shield.
Based on the discription, I would speculate timing gear or main crank seal. Seems unlikley that the diff would spit out that much oil. Or, you could just fabricate the splash shield.
Scott~ Assuming you are correct, and the oil is coming from the drive axle flange, can you see if while you grab the flange, if its possible to wiggle it? It should be virtually un-moveable, to possibly a very slight looseness, but nothing excessive. Some have worn in the splines, others, like mine, have worn in the diff gear to carrier interface. I was able to swap the gears to opposite sides and it is significantly tighter. But mine wasnt so sloppy it leaked or anything. Does sound odd about power effecting it that way, but as far as uphill downhill, uphill would raise the level at the back, downhill would lower it. Perhaps under deacceleration, the flange wobbles more because torque isnt expanding the differential clutch packs.
i know its the tranny oil due to the spray pattern from the CV joint up and around. i just replaced the CV joints and axles so i had the opportunity once again to address the issue of the leaking seal. krobar: as far as movement there is no lateral movement that i can detect with trying to move it by hand, on the drivers side the flange can be pushed in/out by maybe 2mm i figured this was normal lash between the plates and it's not leaking on that side. now if there is any lateral movement under the torque of the suspension or wheels when driving that i don't know. it seems that i might have to replace the flanges, sounds expensive or not possible. i looked and can not find a runout or spec for what the dia. of the flange stub should be. and that smell is really getting on my nerves, nothing like smoking synth tranny fluid to bring back lunch.
I put some of the UV dye into my gearbox on my 328. The gear oil was leaking from the big bolts holding the gearbox case together (oil weeped down the threads and got flung off onto the cat). The problem occured when the gear oil was high enough to get to the joint in the case. Uphill would do it, as would speed changes causing the oil to slosh around. I used some of those sealing washers to fix. If that's your problem, you'll see oil drops on the bottom of the bolts.
