Club 80-90 Forums

So the van has been repatriated to us today from clutch failure in France. So got it straight on the ramps and could see no problems at all and the clutch worked fine! Unhappy with this I decided to remove the gearbox anyway.

I've removed a gearbox before so this went without any issues until I removed the nearside inner CV joint to be greeted with gearbox oil peeing out when undoing the final bolt

When the gearbox was removed from the van I can only fear the worse.....




This is an image of the inner nearside cv joint.....



Looks worn to the shape of the above hole?? But how!

Anyway onto the clutch issue. The input shaft had remains of the spigot bearing on so I think this was the cause of the intermittent clutch failure...



Upon the inspection of the clutch I think that needs replacing too?




Flywheel ok?




Main worry is the leak on the output side. Is this a one off or is it something major?

Shopping list so far...

New clutch
Spigot bearing
Flywheel locking tool!
Felt seal needed for flywheel?

There is a very good write up on how to cure the leak in the Wiki...
https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Ge ... eak_repair

I hope that helps

nevill3 wrote:There is a very good write up on how to cure the leak in the Wiki...
https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Ge ... eak_repair

I hope that helps

Humm Is that it? I'm asking this as looking at it it looks like the drive shaft has drilled it's way through the flange cap! Also the output shaft seals where changed when I fitted the gearbox last year

No circlip on end of diff side shaft by the looks of it, flange will be loose on splines

Here is a close-up of the damage the drive shaft has caused to the gearbox

I'd be removing the driveshaft and measuring it's length just in case it's the wrong one, early ones are longer than late ones iirc

Aidan wrote:I'd be removing the driveshaft and measuring it's length just in case it's the wrong one, early ones are longer than late ones iirc

Ok thanks Aidan. I need to remove that driveshaft so I can repack the cv with grease so I'll measure it then. I'm guessing theres no point replacing the flange cap?

Removed the driveshaft tonight and it measures about 540mm (can't be exact with taking the cv's off) Is this about right? What length is an early/late driveshaft?

On another note in the wintertime I remembered I changed the oil to a thinner grade to try and help with the stiff gear change in the cold mornings. It had no effect on the gear changes but I wondered if the thinner grade could be to blame for the leaking seals? If you turn the box on it's side and it literally poors out! Not something i'd expect from a year old seal from BW. Anyway the gear oil was this......

oil leak isn't down to the grade of oil
new seals were fitted but what condition were the seal surfaces on the flanges and were the spring washers fitted the correct way arround (ie you can't fit the circlips in the groove without giving them a tonk with a 32mm socket)
Strip the flanges off and let's see what's going on
I haven't got Bentley/Etka here so can't advise on shaft measurements at mo

Aidan wrote:oil leak isn't down to the grade of oil
new seals were fitted but what condition were the seal surfaces on the flanges and were the spring washers fitted the correct way arround (ie you can't fit the circlips in the groove without giving them a tonk with a 32mm socket)
Strip the flanges off and let's see what's going on
I haven't got Bentley/Etka here so can't advise on shaft measurements at mo

Spot on advice thanks.

Tonight I removed the flanges and cleaned up the surfaces with scotchbrite and cleaned the seals with blue roll, refitted the flange and the washer the correct way around this time! And tadaaa no leaks!

Think the boring out of the flange cap was down to the CV joint seizing up due to the grease being diluted away with gearbox oil! The CV had some wear so I replaced it with a good old one I kept packed with fresh Molly grease perfect now.

Just the other jobs to sort now!

All fixed and back on the road feels better than ever to drive! Right where we off to next?!

Referring to the top 2 pics in this post, I have the same problem, oil was covering the cv joint and on removing it, oil had filled the cv joint where grease should be! what I cant understand is that I thought if its a seal issue, oil would leak under the output shaft and dribble down the gearbox or am I missing something?

Previous owner filled it with oil?

PhilXXJ wrote:or am I missing something?

Probably the sealing cap in the flange or it is leaking.

I put new cv joints on and its happened since then.. the sealing cap has a 12mm hole worn away in the centre which wasn't there before I changed them..but oil wont come through there? splines are a pretty close fit.