Hey y'all, I changed my rear differential fluid about a month ago. I noticed it leaking the other day with also oil spots on my driveway. I also replaced the gasket. But why is it leaking? Where did I go wrong? Should I have went around the diff cover with gasket maker to make a better seal?
Did you clean/scrape both mating surfaces really well and use solvent to degrease?
If you cleaned everything up really well(no, or very,very little trace of the old sealant) and still had a leak you may have not used enough silicone.
I always prefer to use a gasket with a little silicone on both sides, rather than silicone only like the factory uses.
Either way you should be fine though if everything was cleaned up.
Did you use a torque wrench to tighten the bolts?
It's not a necessity, but it helps prevent over tightening any of the bolts, which could cause a leak.
I plan on redoing it this weekend and reusing the oil since it has around 3-4K miles on it. I used Valvoline Synthetic 75w-90 in it. I do remember alittle excess of the old gasket on the diff. The sun was setting and I was meeting the family later for supper. But once again it bit me in the butt by being in a hurry. What do y'all reccomend getting the old gasket off? It was stuck on there pretty good and what kind of silicone should I use?
I would just try to use a razor blade. All the autoparts stores sell gasket scrapers. Which is just a razor blade on a handle. They also sell gasket remover spray if its really on stuck on there.
Razor blades work great for the big stuff, if you have a wire brush to ruff it up that helps some times too. Take your time and be thorough. I prefer to use a torque wrench and follow the directions for proper torquing sequence.
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