(G) Whats next .......Leaking Drive Shaft Oil Seal !

Eh up all.

HNY.

Well having fixed the door handle, thermostat housing leak, none working fan the and over the holidays the alternator belt the little $!3s decided to start to weep from the front driveshaft (gearbox side) output shaft.

On the basis its just a weep and i suspect its a seal rather than anything major can anyone give me a step by step to dismantling and replacing.

From what i can gather its relativley simple.....!!!!!!!!!!!! heard that before.

Wheel off
Drain gearbox ( undo fill plug first)
Hub nut off
Disconnect from suspension arm
Push stub axle out from hub

Now the next bits got me - is the shaft held in place by some kind of circlip that you pull/lever/bray out so its a push fit ?

Not keen on this bit from what ive read as it looks a little hit and miss as to how exactly you get it out.

Next question is how many seal in the housing, i assume its just a push fit one sitting in a recess in the gearbox housing and then the output shaft slips through it ?

As always any help greatly appreciated.

This little motors going to be the death of me......or im going to get rid of the daughter it might be cheaper

Time to get shot of that one I reckon.

typecastboy

ehup- nah not giving up yet, its cost my daughter very little thus far as ive done all the fixes and all the stuff thats gone was on the list i printed from here prior to buying it so knew it was likely

Most expense was stat housing, the cheap one on first was clearly fubar as once febi was fitted the fan kicked in so fixed both problems for £35.00. Handle hinge was £8.00 and aux belt £15.00 so not bad thus far.

Hopefully the seal will be low parts costs its just the fitting tips i need - not keen on this fix but ill give it a go .....with help from on here .

Cheers

I've not done this fix on a 500 before, but have done it on a Peugeot 106 and Ford Fiesta. In both instances it was very much as you describe and was a surprisingly simple fix. You can remove the old seal carefully with a screwdriver. Make sure you apply oil to the surfaces of the new seal before fitting and that you fit it squarely. Others may be able to advise whether there is any retaining device on the 500, there wasn't on either of my cars, they were just a push fit.

There's a retaining clip on the splines, gearbox end
You'll need to pull, knock or lever the shaft out of the gearbox.

Some come out easy, others don't.
If you're levering out with a pry bar, be careful of damaging the gearbox casing.
Often you can get on the edge of the spider bearing casing with a block of wood and knock them out with a swift wack with a mallet.

You might be able to save a few steps if you remove the brake caliper, break away the strut from the hub and split the bottom ball joint, this will save you undoing the hub nut.

A couple of axle stands set at the right height can be used to rest the shaft on while you try and split it from the gearbox.

Remove the old seal as described.

To fit the new, use a large socket that fits the outer edge of the new seal and tap it gently in place.
Note which way it fits, it's very common that seals get fitted the wrong way!

The circlip (if one is still there) on the driveshaft is a snap-ring so it needs a smart tap to knock it out.

The new bearing should just fit into a recess. The biggest ball-ache by far is getting it in squarely. The beast will likely have a metal sheath around it (and maybe over it's face) and if this is not 101% precisely the right size, it'll be unruly and won't go neatly into the recess.

The sheath is usually aluminium though so get yourself some medium grit emery paper and then offer the seal up to reveal any "high" spots (out of rounds) on the casing... then sand it a bit in that area.

If the sheath has some blue sealant around it and you've just rubbed it off, give it a smear of sealant before you finally tap it home. Use an old socket around the metal rim of the seal. Don't whack the rubber part or any casing over the rubber part.

Other advice, don't just buy one seal, buy two. If you inadvertently knacker one by belting it too hard you'll have a spare..


Ralf S.

There’s no circlip, you just need to lever the shaft out.

As long as the shaft is free to move outwards, the whole thing should 'pop' out of the diff easily. However, when I did the other side of the Panda, it fought back, refusing to move. On the third attempt it almost fell out, so just swear a little and keep trying gently.

The old seal can be useful as a drift to replace the new one, as it fits the diameter quite accurately.

Less usual for this one to leak. Check above first. Sometimes a leak from the gearchange mechanism will drip onto the shaft and appear to be this seal leaking. The seal on the engine side is more likely to leak, as it is directly above the exhaust on the Panda, so gets cooked. The exhaust nicely gets in the way, to inhibit shaft removal, and seal replacement. That side needed lots of swearing.

It's all been said above so very little to add but I did notice the seals for my boy's Punto were handed. Different part numbers for N/S and O/S! I couldn't see it at first but careful examination revealed that, if you look carefully at the inner "lip" of the seal it has a subtle molded in "scroll" effect. It runs clockwise on one and anticlockwise on the other. The idea, I presume, being that it helps to "wind" any leaking oil back into the box like the old scroll type crankshaft seals of years gone by - so be careful to fit the correct seal to the correct side otherwise you may find it encourages the oil out past the seal rather than returning it to the box internals!

PS I bought actual Fiat seals from the main agent. It's possible, I suppose, that a generic seal may not have this feature?

Goudrons

Cheers for that I know I’d read somewhere it was a circlip or snap ring of sorts and it was a bu##er to shift.

It’s looking doable for me at the moment as done a few in my past but had access to proper garage tools, will be at home on my back in the garage with a good set of kit but no pullers or multiple pry bars etc so need to be sure before I start it.

Thanks

All,

Thanks for the tips, seems the shaft removal is going to be the key to the job here, from reading it’s either going to slide out no issue or be a PIA

From what I can see it does have a metal plant pot type casting around it which I guess is where you lever from behind, I can see this being a right laugh

I’m ok with the seal replacement done,loads in the past so know how crucial it is to take time to get it seated and oiled up right first time and drift it in slowly to avoid distortion.

Will update this thread once ive done this job or given up

Cheers all.

This might give you ideas.

Probably will need to do mine at some point this year noticed a few drops from around the seal on my 1.3 gearbox
Only an occasional drip thou still plenty of oil on the box