My Dad has a Panda 4x4 Cross 2009 31k miles mint condition which he wishes to sell but I am trying to fix a leaking front diff on it first.

I have found both the drain plug and fill plug & have ordered the right gear oil for it. I have the correct 'E socket' to undo the rear end of the front diff. Just ordered a 12mm allen socket for the fill plug. Not in any hurry as its sorn anyway and sitting in his garage while I fix it.

I have cleaned the diff thoroughly & plan to run the engine and give it a wee runabout get the diff to start leaking again - so I can see exactly which seal has perished. I suspect I know which one; I have an 'exploded diagram' of the diff from Fiat with all the part numbers on it. So then I'll drain the diff completely before undoing the bolts that attach it to the propshaft & the rear end of it.


So my first question is - what is the torque I should use when refitting the propshaft & rear diff 'E' bolts? I have the haynes manual but its useless as it doesn't cover the 4x4 and thus has no info on the front diff.

I know that this is a rare model Panda but figure that if I can get advice anywhere about this job on it - it's likely to be here.


Thanks in advance.

Dont suppose by any chance the leak is in the same place as my 2006 4x4? (Pic attached)

It does appear to be - but yours looks a lot worse; we've caught ours early I think. I suspect it is the 'O' sealing ring inside the part that your red arrow points to. These seals are available apparently, though some are in UK stock probably others will have to come through the dealers from Italy (let's not even go there atm).

All servicing parts now present; E socket, 12mm allen socket, new oil. I'll start stripping it down next week.

Mines done almost 127000 miles, came accross it by accident, was looking at the engine mount to the side. Never noticed any oil pooled on the road so suspect its forced passed the seal while in motion.
Im replacing the whole prop shaft soon, (that damn centre bearing) so may as well tackle it then, dont hear any whine from anywhere so i guess the oil level is still good. As for the torque figures, perhaps the service guy at the local fiat dealer would know.

We aren't too keen on the local fiat dealership; actually engaged with another one further away because they were less greedy.

We've come up with a way of defining the torque settings.. we intend to mark three bolts heads and the immediate flange surround in a straight line , then undo the three and then tighten them back up gradually with the torque wrench until each gets back into 'alignment'... this way we get a good idea between the three bolts torque required. We'll then use that setting for the rest of the bolts. We can do this with both sets of bolts - the actual prop shaft connection and the back of the diff unit 'E' type bolts too. So we'll figure it out.
Stripping it tomorrow. As I progress, I'll report back...

Google the "standard" torque settings for the various bolt types. You may find one of those is just right.

From https://wiki.seloc.org/a/Torque_settings

I tried to add the table of values but they wont format correclty

Morning did you manage to get the job done?
While im off work for the forseeable future i may as well start tackling some jobs, and get me away from the mrs and offspring
Any helpful hints you could offer?
Apart from the E socket I have all the tools, what size is required? I would rather just buy the one I need instead of a whole set just to sit in the shed.

Thanks