Garage or DIY, oil leak

[Naylz]

Hi, so my E89 had new reluctor rings fitted to both sides at the rear last week, this resulted in new driveshafts being needed, ABS sensors and coil springs . Today I have discovered a new oil leak, it is coming from the driver side of the rear diff, the flange the new driveshaft bolts to. I have contacted the garage that did the work and he claims that the driveshaft only bolts to that flange and the flange wasn’t removed/ disturbed as part of the work carried out, it would be an hours work to fix and the seal is BMW only. So my question is, how hard a job would this be, is it something I could tackle on my drive or do you need a special BMW tool to remove the flange, can I unbolt the driveshaft and simply push it to one side or does it have to come fully off

 

[B21]

Looking on TIS that looks pretty tricky imho for a driveway exercise…lots of special tools / skills..

 

[Naylz]

Hi B21, what is TIS?. I have found a you tube video which looks fairly straight forward, jack up, unbolt driveshaft from diff, move sway bar, remove driveshaft from hub, use C shaped pry tool to remove output flange, lever out seal and replace, refit the rest……..yeah too easy…what could possibly go wrong . I would say I am a pretty skilled none qualified mechanic, I rebuilt my defender onto a new chassis on my own during covid lockdown ( got bored, being genetically inferior and having to shield at home) and it is still going strong.

I am also basing this confidence on the fact it has a brand new week old driveshaft and drop link fitted, so all new bolts, the swaybar will also have been recently released for that job too so again bolts should be forgiving. My intention is to refit exactly as it came off, ie same number of turns on hubnut, correct torque on driveshaft bolts etc…I will research a bit more a before committing, guess the hubnut applies force onto the bearing so need to get that right.

Just reluctant taking it a garage after my last experience……3hr quoted job took 2 weeks…not ideal when working 60+ hr weeks

 

[B21]

TIS is BMWs on line tech library..you can find download complete manuals..also ISTA has a complete library..

Clearly you’re not in the ‘what’s a spark plug?’…


If you think you’re up for it then great..

 

[Naylz]

UPDATE: well replaced the leaking seal today, and I have to say it was a lot easier than I thought. Luckily for me the driveshaft is new so had shiny new E10 torx bolts too which came out no bother. Simply jacked up, removed wheel removed 3 driveshaft bolts with handbrake on, took handbrake off to rotate shaft to undo the other 3 bolts. I then zip tied the shaft against the sway bar, tapped out the output flange, removed old seal, cleaned everything, tapped new seal in, replaced spring clip on flange spline, put it back in and re-bolted the driveshaft back on. Yes access was a little tight but was still possible even with my shovel hands. Just got the diff oil to change now…didn’t have the right size hex head for the filler plug, will get that done tomorrow now. All in all it took me about an hour.

 

[B21]

UPDATE: well replaced the leaking seal today, and I have to say it was a lot easier than I thought. Luckily for me the driveshaft is new so had shiny new E10 torx bolts too which came out no bother. Simply jacked up, removed wheel removed 3 driveshaft bolts with handbrake on, took handbrake off to rotate shaft to undo the other 3 bolts. I then zip tied the shaft against the sway bar, tapped out the output flange, removed old seal, cleaned everything, tapped new seal in, replaced spring clip on flange spline, put it back in and re-bolted the driveshaft back on. Yes access was a little tight but was still possible even with my shovel hands. Just got the diff oil to change now…didn’t have the right size hex head for the filler plug, will get that done tomorrow now. All in all it took me about an hour.

Well done..good to know for others..

 

[TIMMOS29]

UPDATE: well replaced the leaking seal today, and I have to say it was a lot easier than I thought. Luckily for me the driveshaft is new so had shiny new E10 torx bolts too which came out no bother. Simply jacked up, removed wheel removed 3 driveshaft bolts with handbrake on, took handbrake off to rotate shaft to undo the other 3 bolts. I then zip tied the shaft against the sway bar, tapped out the output flange, removed old seal, cleaned everything, tapped new seal in, replaced spring clip on flange spline, put it back in and re-bolted the driveshaft back on. Yes access was a little tight but was still possible even with my shovel hands. Just got the diff oil to change now…didn’t have the right size hex head for the filler plug, will get that done tomorrow now. All in all it took me about an hour.

good lad!!