2 replies to this topic

[Down&Out]

Hi there,

I'd just like to know if its possible for a drive shaft seal to actually fail?

On the way home from college today, i was sitting in traffic close to dropping someone off, and an appauling smell and smoke surrounded the car, so i got to dropping this person off, and managed to get out and check the car. One side of the engine bay was swimming in oil, checked the dipstick and it only barely registered at the bottom of the dipstick, which means it lost a hell of a lot.

Went back later with a land rover and a trailer to get it, drove it on the trailer quickly because it was too steep to push up, and you could hear oil splattering and bubbling out of somewhere, so im sure its the o/s driveshaft oil seal.

But need to ask, is it possible for them to fail like this? i got down several miles of dual carriageway and some town driving before it went, so it might have started to go and then finally gone bang when i did a hill start.

Just checking before i go out and buy some oil seals to find its something else! i havent had time to check fully because its too dark.

Thanks if youve read this!

[sledgehammer]

They normally just weep a small amount , but can go just like any oil seal ,

IIRC they are the lowest seal (apart from gear change seal)

lucky you weren't on the motorway , if it didn't smoke/smell too much , the first you would know would be the oil light / ends knocking

I had similar with a fuel pump (almost same area) , It coated everything in oil quickly & exhaust manifold smoked a fair bit

They are cheap enough

[Down&Out]

They normally just weep a small amount , but can go just like any oil seal ,

IIRC they are the lowest seal (apart from gear change seal)

lucky you weren't on the motorway , if it didn't smoke/smell too much , the first you would know would be the oil light / ends knocking

I had similar with a fuel pump (almost same area) , It coated everything in oil quickly & exhaust manifold smoked a fair bit

They are cheap enough

Oh ok cool stuff. I planned to go out on the rounds tomorrow and try and get some, if its not those, then i at least have some spare, theyre only about a quid each.

And yes! if it had gone on the dual carriageway it would have been horrendous. Im also really glad i checked it when i did, because i initially just though it was the hand brake overadjusted or something along those lines, so if i'd driven home on the amount of oil that was in there, i'd have had to drop another engine in there

I'll probably go out and see if i can get some seals and properly inspect it tomorrow when its light(er)

Thankyou for your help!