Oh 'eck 'Tank' is not at all well.......

[940_Turbo]

Originally Posted by Paul240480

Right, I don't even know what a half shaft is...............yet! Tomorrow is gonna see me learning!

andy_d no no egg sucking at all, all advice is welcome. I did drain & refil the diff with Texaco API GL5-SAE90, but erm...... checking my history file that was in July 07 at 175,752 miles! It's now on 195,500 & some & I've not checked it since

So if this 1/2 shaft seal thing is letting by, does that mean the diff has drained?

It won't have drained, but the oil held in the centre banjo can travel right through the axle so it'll have lost some.

[940_Turbo]

I did a how to on replacing the half shaft seal on a 120 which is similar but by no means the same! It'll teach you what a halfshaft is though. The principal difference is that disk brake cars have an inner and outer oil seal. The outer one can't be replaced without removing the bearing, which is the tricky bit!

[volvo always]

Hi Paul,

Hope you can repair tank or get tank repaired as pain free as possible. Sounds a daunting job with removing the bearing. No doubt I will have these sort of jobs to look forward too with my 1989 240 It's sods law it's always winter! Its been very, very, cold here in the republic of Ireland and the roads are very icy. I have been driving very slowly!

James

[Clifford Pope]

Don't discount the possibility that there is a long term small leak of some kind of fluid, only brought to light by the more dramatic fault of the sudden noise.

You really need to identify the fluid, which should be obvious from its smell or consistency, confirmed by tracing its source. Brake fluid leakage can only come from a pipe, union, or caliper piston seal. Those are all external, and on the inboard face of the backing plate.
Axle oil would be leaking from the outward side of the plate, inside the brake drum.

One possibility could simply be a worn out disintegrating brake pad fouling a seized up piston. Or an anti rattle spring or a pin come loose. I once had a pin lose its R-clip and slide outwards, scraping the road wheel. When you get it jacked up and the wheel off you can rotate it by hand and check or eliminate all external possibilities before further dismantling.

[Paul240480]

Thanks Clifford, I replaced the pads in Jan 10 & probably around 5k max ago. It also went straight through the Contrôle Technique on 19/10/10, so I'd assume that this is recent-ish.............. you never know though.

Thanks, will be taking a look soon & will take some better pics

Right off to read 940_turbo's how-to

[Paul240480]

Right, we're up on a stand, jack still in situ & spare wheel under!

I've removed the calliper & disc. Calliper looks nice & dry. Black sludge on inner 'drum' part of the disc appears to be oil. Cannot smell any cats pee mind!

The brake fluid was changed in March 10 when I did the rear brake hoses & so is still quite clean & fresh looking, so again this points to the sludge being oil. Even so, as yet I cannot see an obvious point of leak..... More investigation I guess.........

Some pics as it is not cleaned up at all: Clicky Pics:

[Clifford Pope]

Now you have the drum off there does appear to be very little oil, at least as visible in the photos. Is the noise still apparent when you turn the shaft?
You could even try starting up and running it cautiously in gear to see if it still does it.

[Paul240480]

Okay, I've come to a halt for now, despite my 2 pairs of jeans, 2 jumpers big old fleece & woolly hat I'm still shiveringly cold! Brrr . Not easy to concentrate like that.

I've had a read through an old thread by chesters6 when he did his wheel bearing & I'm quite confident that replacing the bearing is beyond me.

Clifford, it does make a noise, sort of a knocking if I spin the hub, although that sounds more from the drive shaft that spins along with the hub. can't notice any play in the bearing though. As for starting it, not sure if it's wise whilst on the stand, or am I being over-cautious?

So the other option, which has already been suggested to me is to grab a half an axle from a yard & do a straight swap. Using the yard car as a learning excercise before attempting to remove my current suspect one (I still have not identified the exact point of leak). Looks like I need to undo/dis-connect the rear trailing arm, anti-roll bar, reaction rod & maybe the lower shock bolt to remove the off-side part of the axle.

What about where it goes into the diff? Is it just pushed in or is there some sort of bolt that end?
Also I'll need to dis-connect the handbrake cable somehow. Still re-searching that one. If the yard is open I think Friday maybe hunting day!
In the meantime I'll keep searching for more info'
Thanks for all the info & support so far, it's greatly appreciated

James, you are dead right, it's always winter when these things happen! When I had to replace the front strut it was in January 09! Humph!

[Mike1967]

Well done Paul ... sounds like your making progress buddy . There allways Mike on the end of a phone mind if you get stuck , but you know that allready dont u lol lol .

[andy_d]

at the dif end, it is a "just" push it in,
the dif end of the 1/2 shaft has a load of splines on it, so the "just push it in" is a push in ,rotate a little at a time to get the splines to align with the socket, push ,,feel it slip in and seat , there usually 2-3inches long so you can see easily that its not engaged, as its sticking out 2-3inches.

Usually when working on the back end i jack up, axel stand, other side Up , axel stand , side im working on gets the wheel off + under other side gets the wheel left on. ive started the engine fine like that, but Not sitting/being under the car @ the back,,


as your parked butt on frozen / cold ground if you have something like a bit of old carpet/ thickish largeish cardboard, pop that on the ground , anything to try and insulate your seat from the deck is a good move.
Really honestly Dont nab that rug from the hall/kitchen and use that , murphys law states it Will get oil/grease / other on it and the better half will then go into orbit......