So, in February I had the pinion nut and airbag safety recalls accomplished. My 2005 Dodge Ram 1500 QC 4x4 is no longer my daily driver, so in three months I only put a bit over 300 miles on the odo. I came out a couple of weeks ago and noticed I had a gear oil leak from the pinion seal. As I have never had a pin drop leak out of the rear, my belief was that somehow the pinion seal was disturbed during the recall.

I contacted the dealership where the recalls were done, and while they recommended I bring the truck in for inspection, with 172K miles, they believed it was simply an old seal that started to leak. Needless to say, I disagreed with that assessment. So I posted here on a old P77 thread asking if anyone else had experienced the same issue, and while no one specifically replied to that, I did get a PM from Andrea (DodgeCares), a Dodge Social Care Specialist. Andrea's recommendation was to return to the dealership and have them look at the seal, and if I wanted, she would contact the dealership and make an appointment for me.

So Andrea made an appointment for me this week, I took the truck in, and the dealership replaced the seal gratis. Regardless of why, I am sure being contacted by some from Dodge moved this in the right direction to my satisfaction. So...Andrea/DodgeCares, I would like to say thank you for your assistance. The dealership even washed the truck for me.

I just degreased the engine and the rear axle, so if it leaks again (hopefully not), I will be able to tell it's fresh and not residual gear oil from the original leak.

 

The notion that the pinion seal doesn't get disturbed during the recall is total BS. It ALWAYS gets disturbed because ALL of the pinion seals are old. These are 10 year old trucks they're recalling and writing the procedure as if it were a 2 year old truck. A new seal should be part of the recall...period.


Glad you got it worked out.

 

That was my assessment as well. To be 100% honest, after my initial conversation with the service advisor and manager, I wasn't confident that the recall had been actually accomplished. Both said the pinion nut should not have been disturbed, as the techician merely checked for play, and if none, the rear was good to go. Now, maybe that was simply the case that neither one knew the exact procedures required to accomplish the recall, but when I pulled out the 42-page NHTSB recall instructions and "explained" how torquing the pinion nut to 50 followed by 100 ft/lbs certainly is in the area that could "disturb" the pinion seal, I think they got a bit nervous. Telling them I manage an automotive repair facility for a major airline didn't give them a warm feeling as well lol.

 

Well, they will certainly avoid having to eat a part that the recall doesn't leave provisions to pay for.


Recall procedures are often a tad unrealistic. That's the result of bean counters mingling with engineers I guess. Like when a woman moves in your house and puts flowery crap in your man cave LOL

 

Brought my truck to local Dodge dealership for the air bag and pinion nut recalls. The service department said they will do a test on the rear end and if it fails they will have to put a whole newe rear end in. I was like awesome. Well it did fail the test and was then told the rear ends were on back order. I was called about two weeks later saying the rear end came in. While it was at the dealership getting fixed I received a call saying that my axle housing needed to be replaced because it was worn out and they needed to FED EX the part so they would need the truck another day. I said I was already told a new rear end was at the dealership and being put in. WEll....Apparently a whole new rear end means they are rebuilding the old one with some new parts.? but since mine was "worn out" I would be getting a new one. What the heck could be worn in my axle housing? The bearing surfaces? I was told the axle shaft was rubbing on the housing.?????