Fellow Bricksters,
I have questions related to tasks recently completed on my ride (1990 240dl sedan b230f). The first question concerns the pinion seal. I replaced the pinion seal & changed the gear oil in my car today. I did not mark the nut in relation to the drive shaft flange because I felt that to be an unsound method. Instead, I chose to torque the pinion nut down to 148 ftlbs... when Bently manual calls for 148-184 ftlbs. Does anyone think that to be a "good" or "bad" decision? Should I unbolt the drive shaft and re-torque to a higher ftlbs? Afterwards, I went for a substantial test ride (20 miles) and did not find anything to be out of sync nor did I note any leak. Surely, time will tell. My second question concerns the rear main seal I replaced 3500+/- miles ago. I still see these occasional small drops of oil gathering on the tranny. It seems insignificant compared to the situation before the repair, but what is the deal? Could it be related to the fact that I use synthetic oil -and it does not "nourish" the seal the same way standard oil does? I went to my very awesome Volvo mechanic/car surgeon and he showed me a rear main seal he took out of his car (in which he used synthetic oil for over 60,000 miles) and it was hard as a rock. I know the job was done correctly and am now concidering a change back to standard oil -especially when I change my oil every 6-7 weeks no matter the milage. I'm anal about my car but I do love it dearly...any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Jon

One thing I have found out from a veteran volvo mechanic is that if you touch the sealing part of the rear seal with your bare hands, it will damage the seal. It has something to do with the oils in your skin, similar to touching live corals in the ocean. just a tip.

Cat

I have a feeling that the oil you are seeing might be dripping from the bottom of the oil pan at the back of the engine and collecting on the transmission. That is a really common problem, and sometimes tightening the oil pan just a tiny bit at the rear, will stop it from happening. The oil pan bolts can get loose after a while and cause that kind of problem. I don't think synthetic oil has much to do with the leaking that you are seeing, especially from a new rear main.


--
Chris Herbst, near Chicago.

If you are changing your oil that often you are wasting a LOT of money
on synthetic. The only reason to change it that often would be in
very cold weather and short trips when you can't get the condensation
out of it. Generally the harder and longer you run the car the longer
the oil will last because it gets hot enough to boil the water out of it
(not to mention any gasoline that might run down cylinder walls in the
early stages of starting, etc
--
George Downs, The "original" Walrus3, Bartlesville, Oklahoma