Technical Oil leak from gearbox / drive shaft

[AndyB2005]

2005 Ducato based camper van, 2.3 TD engine and 5 speed manual box..
A year ago I posted about fitting new shockers on the front, and the near side drive shaft pulling out of the gearbox, dumping oil on the drive.

Gear box oil all over drive on fitting new shock absorbers | FIAT Ducato

Hello folks, 2005 Ducato based camper van, 2.3 TD engine and 5 speed manual box. As per the title, I changed the front right hand shocker no problems, but on doing the LHS, I've pulled the drive shaft partially out of the gearbox, dumping a couple of litres of oil on the drive. Does the...

www.fiatforum.com

I followed the advice given, shoved the shaft back into the gearbox, and kept fingers crossed...

Well roll on a year and 4k miles, and I've noticed there is an oil leak from this area, and so I guess the oil seal is buggered.
My question is how to change the oil seal? Is it a straightforward job of pulling the drive shaft out again, and swapping the seal with the gearbox in place, or is it more involved? The Ducato E-learn manual is not being very helpful (or I don't know what precisely to look for).

Many thanks,
Andy

 

[bugsymike]

2005 Ducato based camper van, 2.3 TD engine and 5 speed manual box..
A year ago I posted about fitting new shockers on the front, and the near side drive shaft pulling out of the gearbox, dumping oil on the drive.

Gear box oil all over drive on fitting new shock absorbers | FIAT Ducato

Hello folks, 2005 Ducato based camper van, 2.3 TD engine and 5 speed manual box. As per the title, I changed the front right hand shocker no problems, but on doing the LHS, I've pulled the drive shaft partially out of the gearbox, dumping a couple of litres of oil on the drive. Does the...

www.fiatforum.com

I followed the advice given, shoved the shaft back into the gearbox, and kept fingers crossed...

Well roll on a year and 4k miles, and I've noticed there is an oil leak from this area, and so I guess the oil seal is buggered.
My question is how to change the oil seal? Is it a straightforward job of pulling the drive shaft out again, and swapping the seal with the gearbox in place, or is it more involved? The Ducato E-learn manual is not being very helpful (or I don't know what precisely to look for).

Many thanks,
Andy

Usually if you get an oil seal you can offer it up or take measurements that will tell you if it just prises out once drive shaft removed.
By the way you didn't overfill the gearbox as that can cause oil leak also?

 

[AndyB2005]

Thank you for the response. Firstly, I'm reasonably sure it wasn't over-filled - I used an oil syringe for the filling, which was surprising good at getting the oil into the gearbox and nowhere else, and I had 2.3 L left in the 5 L bottle of oil I started with, so 2.7 L was put in. This does assume it was properly empty before starting, but the van was level and the sump plug removed and left overnight, so It should have been.
Following the MOT yesterday, the tester didn't mention the oil leak (I'd done a wipe over with a rag), and when questioned suggested it must be a very small leak, with no signs of drips after the drive to the garage, and said she would monitor it for a while, rather than rush into taking things off the gear box. I've also (after looking at it in more detail from the MOT pit and studying the e-learn manual for ages) found the oil seal is held in the "differential flange" which should be easy to remove with the gearbox in situ once the drive shaft is out, if I bite the bullet and do it...

 

[bugsymike]

Thank you for the response. Firstly, I'm reasonably sure it wasn't over-filled - I used an oil syringe for the filling, which was surprising good at getting the oil into the gearbox and nowhere else, and I had 2.3 L left in the 5 L bottle of oil I started with, so 2.7 L was put in. This does assume it was properly empty before starting, but the van was level and the sump plug removed and left overnight, so It should have been.
Following the MOT yesterday, the tester didn't mention the oil leak (I'd done a wipe over with a rag), and when questioned suggested it must be a very small leak, with no signs of drips after the drive to the garage, and said she would monitor it for a while, rather than rush into taking things off the gear box. I've also (after looking at it in more detail from the MOT pit and studying the e-learn manual for ages) found the oil seal is held in the "differential flange" which should be easy to remove with the gearbox in situ once the drive shaft is out, if I bite the bullet and do it...

Just a small point about oil volume, is this your gearbox and engine details in photo below showing 2 litres?
As a very rough guide, when correct level is put into gearbox, what drains into the diff should be just below the drive shaft oil seal when on level ground if shaft out, this means oil is around the diff gears and bearings and not overloading the drive shaft seals. Where a transaxle has a oil level plug on the diff housing you often find it to be roughly inline with bottom of drive shafts. Not 100% , but a guide.
Yes I did see a photo of a gearbox as you describe with about 6 nuts/bolts around the flange on the N/S shaft, but wasn't sure if that was your type of gearbox. So hopefully not to bad a job, as long as shaft goes back in carefully in new seal, maybe with a bit of grease around it to help.