Submariner1
Senior Member
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2016
- Messages
- 4,694
- Reaction score
- 788
- Location
- Windsor Berkshire
- Your Mercedes
- CL500 2009 5.5
I would be grateful for some info.
I have resigned myself to replacing the drive sharft seals on the diff.
As it appeared to be leaking imo horribly.
Wierdly when I wiped this off I expected the kitchen towel to be soaking. In fact
Yes it went a little dirty, but only in 2 places both about 4mm x4mm did it go translucent. So it looked a lot worse than it was.
I had it looked at by the local main dealer, who said it wasnt bad, and they didnt check the level as they doubted it had leaked much. But they determined it was leaking from the top of the seal.
Because I am having it replaced by my indy some 70miles away, and have it booked it for next Thursday; I wanted to work out if it needed topping up before making the journey. I dont want to drive 70 miles on a 1/2 empty diff!
So I thought I would clean it all off with kitchen towel and brake cleaner. Which I did last night.
I drove 30 miles today and just checked the diff.
It looks bone dry.
I was surprised as I expected some kind of slight weep.
By coincidence a friend of mine has a work colleague who also has a CL500 and he had a leaking diff!
and likewise had what appeared to be not a massive leak.
But naturally he changed the driveshaft seal.
Ironically after changing the seal it leaked again, so they thoroughly cleaned the diff.
This time, Although there was no nasty leak at the bottom, there was significant misting around the breather.
They changed the breather and no more misting there !!
And he has had no further problems.??
As you can imagine the second time around, he asked how come it leaked badly and then only slightly. He told me they didnt really have a decent explanation.
Yes I was surprised to find that diffs even have a breather.
Putting 2 and 2 together to make 10!
I had a look and yes mine does have a breather right above the leak!
The oil mist looked lighter around the top of the seal / breather area, than the bottom of the seal / drain plug.
So you can imagine my dilemna, is it the driveshaft seal as the Maindealer says , or is it the breather directly above that seal?
Hence I would like to know
How many miles would it take to show if it was a driveshaft seal leak?
I.e will it show within 100 miles ? I,e. Before I get to my Indy
What makes a breather leak and apparently no longer leak?
( no idea how they work).
I would much rather pay my Indy to upgrade my bixenons to the Gen 2 versions.
Is it significant that a few months after my build the breather part no and breather cap was changed?
Does one clean out a breather or do you just replace it?
Am I right to assume 30 miles is not enough to let the leak manifest itself.
I have resigned myself to replacing the drive sharft seals on the diff.
As it appeared to be leaking imo horribly.
Wierdly when I wiped this off I expected the kitchen towel to be soaking. In fact
Yes it went a little dirty, but only in 2 places both about 4mm x4mm did it go translucent. So it looked a lot worse than it was.
I had it looked at by the local main dealer, who said it wasnt bad, and they didnt check the level as they doubted it had leaked much. But they determined it was leaking from the top of the seal.
Because I am having it replaced by my indy some 70miles away, and have it booked it for next Thursday; I wanted to work out if it needed topping up before making the journey. I dont want to drive 70 miles on a 1/2 empty diff!
So I thought I would clean it all off with kitchen towel and brake cleaner. Which I did last night.
I drove 30 miles today and just checked the diff.
It looks bone dry.
I was surprised as I expected some kind of slight weep.
By coincidence a friend of mine has a work colleague who also has a CL500 and he had a leaking diff!
and likewise had what appeared to be not a massive leak.
But naturally he changed the driveshaft seal.
Ironically after changing the seal it leaked again, so they thoroughly cleaned the diff.
This time, Although there was no nasty leak at the bottom, there was significant misting around the breather.
They changed the breather and no more misting there !!
And he has had no further problems.??
As you can imagine the second time around, he asked how come it leaked badly and then only slightly. He told me they didnt really have a decent explanation.
Yes I was surprised to find that diffs even have a breather.
Putting 2 and 2 together to make 10!
I had a look and yes mine does have a breather right above the leak!
The oil mist looked lighter around the top of the seal / breather area, than the bottom of the seal / drain plug.
So you can imagine my dilemna, is it the driveshaft seal as the Maindealer says , or is it the breather directly above that seal?
Hence I would like to know
How many miles would it take to show if it was a driveshaft seal leak?
I.e will it show within 100 miles ? I,e. Before I get to my Indy
What makes a breather leak and apparently no longer leak?
( no idea how they work).
I would much rather pay my Indy to upgrade my bixenons to the Gen 2 versions.
Is it significant that a few months after my build the breather part no and breather cap was changed?
Does one clean out a breather or do you just replace it?
Am I right to assume 30 miles is not enough to let the leak manifest itself.