Axle leak from vent ordeal

Impetuous

Common sense isn't common
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Guys I want to post here a thread that I started in a different forum because I don't think that I am the only one that have experienced this problem. Since I don't know if it's even legal to link up threads from other forums I'm going to post the exact posts that I made:


Well the other day I noticed oil in the garage floor where I park my 11. This sparked my curiosity and looked under the car and it seems to be coming from the axle vent. I cleaned it and started thinking about what could have caused this. It's been pretty cold here lately and I thought well maybe is that. Yesterday, I checked it again and it was a little wet so I cleaned the area with brake cleaner and took a small trip, 40 miles I think. I looked at it again this morning and it's feaking wet again!! Should I take it to the dealer?? The car is stock and it has about 1.8k miles. Could this be an overfilled condition, weather(cold) or just vent failure?

Any ideas? Thanks!



I made an appointment with my local dealer. I did my research and there's a TSB for 05-10 stangs to replace the vent. I am experiencing the same symptoms that other owners described, so I think the same thing applies to my stang. Btw, I don't do any tipe or hard cornering, just my daily driving back anf forth from work.


So they ordered a new vent and they'll give me a call once it gets here.


Factory filled and the dealer told me that it's just fine and not over filled.


Bad News!!!

Well the dealer changed the axle vent last Monday and everything seemed fine until this morning. While I was on the way home from work with the cruise on after working a 12hr shift the least I expected was something to happen to the car but it did! I felt like a pause in the car for a second and a little noise that sounded like a tire going flat. I was next to the exit to my house so when I came to a stop light, I felt what I thought it was for sure a flat tire, specialy since I saw some smoke in the rear view mirror. I drove a little more and stopped in a parking lot and looked under the car because it didn't feel like a blown tire anymore and then...surprise! the rear end was leaking oil bad!! The smoke was the oil dripping in the exhaust since it was coming from the front of the rear end. I drove another mile and got home, and could tell the ring and pinion wasn't too happy.

To make the long story short the car is already at my local dealer and the rear end was almost completely apart in a matter of 1/2hr from the time the car was picked up from my house. The front seal popped out according to the service manager and they were going to call an engineer to figure out why this happened. IMO it looks like the differential doesn't like the cold since it was 11* out here while on my way home and when it first started leaking out of the vent 2 weeks ago it was really cold as well. It's almost like it's creating a lot of build up pressure inside the rear end. I was given a rental car so I'm happy for that part and the service manager seemed very willing to do whatever it takes to make me happy. So they are going to call me with their findings and I'll update you guys as well.



Well since it started leaking out of the vent 2 weeks ago and then the vent was replaced last Monday I didn't expect anything to go bad. But here's the deal:

The service manager called me and said that the pinion bearing was bad and they tought that somehow in the factory the pinion nut was over torqued, probably ruining other parts as well. Now the engineer is very interested in this and suggested to replace the whole rear end because he wants to take a look at the current one. So they ordered a new unit and hopefully will be here at the beginning of next week. Anyways this is very strange but as long as they take care of it I really don't care, but hopefully nobody else has to go thru this.




The car never exhibited any noise that lead me to believe that something was going wrong with it other than the vent leak. I've been into mustangs for over 18 years and this is the first time that I heard or experienced something like it. This is weird and I can't explain it. The pinion bearing answer doesn't sound right to me either but it's getting fix and that's what matter at the moment. Hopefully it wont ne a recurrence.


I'm starting to think that the rear end was over filled from factory and the dealer techs never checked the oil like they claimed. They had the car in and out of service so fast that I'm starting to believe that they actually never did it.



Well I just got the car back today and the axle was replaced. I was told that there was another stang with the same problem and this one was brand new off the lot that went for a test drive!! Ford engineers think that it could be a bad batch of axles. Wow! The main thing now is that I'm starting to freak out because I just drove to work and it's leaking oil out of the vent AGAIN!! Unless they filled it up thru that hole and/or that vent came from the old axle and it has a residue. I know they didn't clean under the car very well because I can see where the oil splattered while the front seal came off during the drive and there's still oil in the exhaust. Nevertheless I just called the service manager who has been very helpfull and courteous, but was busy at the moment.

I think that an F-150 is starting to sound more apealing to me.



I got the call from the service manager and he told me that they had to reuse the vent because the new axle came without it. So that put me at ease. Tonight when I get home I'm going to raise the back end of the car and clean the area real well so I can keep an eye for any signs of leak. Hopefully this will be the end of the saga.


Well it's official...is leaking AGAIN thru the breather! F-me! I don't know what to think anymore. The car doesn't even have 3k miles on it yet and it's getting on my nerves already.

I talked to my buddy who's been working with cars for 20+ years and told me that he bets that the axle is and was overfilled from factory. I was like, they told me that when the new axle assembly came in the gear oil was filled from the factory, but he still believes that this was the reason why it popped the front seal to begin with. He insisted that I should check the oil myself and don't believe that they actually checked for the correct amount. So tomorrow morning I'm going to raise the car and check for excess fluid. If I don't find it to be over the fill plug then for sure that I'll contact the dealer again.

One thing that got me thinking for sure is that I was looking at the owner's manual and even when the v6 model comes with a 8.8 axle they do use less gear oil??? WTF? I'm so pissed right now. I have to travel next week and I can't believe that I'm scared to drive my new stang! I started to look at the 2012 Focus ST's, seems like a great exchange or maybe I should start looking into a F-150 with the eco-boost or even the camaro.



So I ended dropping the car off at the dealer yesterday and they have not being able to get to it. I'm starting to get really pissed off right now and don't know what to do. On top of that I have to travel and will be out of state for over a month and don't feel at ease driving my 2011 Mustang GT with less than 3K miles. Ain't that some crap!!

Has anybody else being experiencing leaks from the breather? This seems to be the first part of a disaster waiting to happen.
 
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lsp408

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While I was installing the exhaust, I noticed some spot on the passenger side of axle by the breather. I will keep my eyes on this.
 

Melvo

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Wow, this sounds like a possible deal breaker for me. Definitely keep us updated.
 

Impetuous

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I have not gotten any calls back from the dealer but yesterday they provided me a rental car. I'm still waiting for a response back but I doubt they got to it today since I drove past by the dealer and the car was pretty much in the same place I left it.
 

Impetuous

Common sense isn't common
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Well I just picked the car up. According to the service manager they called their "hot line" and the engineer told them to lower the oil level 1/4" below the fill hole. So I'm just going to call it good for now. I made sure that the area was well cleaned with brake parts cleaner so I can see if it starts to leak again. Another thing that I noticed is that the cap on the breather that it's actually spring loaded will not allow the gases that form inside the axle to escape easily. I think it'll take a decent amount of pressure to actually push it open, in turn creating a build-up gas pressure (hot). When I started to open the oil fill port I could hear the pressure build up being released and that's when I stopped and decided to call the dealer.

So in my opinion this is caused by one of two things or both. The thick gear oil is creating a lot of gas build-up or the breather valve is too strong and it doesn't allow the pressure evacuation as it should or a combination of both. If is not either one of those two things then I honestly don't know what's going on inside the axle.
 
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