I had the truck taken in a 2nd time to get my 4 wheel alignment done again because the first time they didnt do it right. Now 2 days after it was done i noticed a oil stain under the front Differential on the road, its clear and smells like cat **** and its also got a drip from the differential so i know its the diff oil. The RTV gasket is leaking on the bottom. The gasket that got smushed out from putting it on at first seems to be sorta hanging there now and thats where the small leak is coming from.

Can i just take some black RTV and smear it like you would a bathroom shower or tub with silicon to seal the corners and such ? Or do i have to take the entire cover off now and change the RTV gasket and refill it with differential oil ? I dont even want to bring it back to that crappy garrage cause they will probably break something else.

I bought a tube of black RTV and when its light tomarow im going to try the idea i had and see if its works... However i still want some input from you guys

 

I would just pull the cover, ditch the gasket, clean both surfaces extremely well, and put a bead of RTV around it.... let it skin over for about 5 to 10 minutes, and reinstall the cover. If the gasket is squirting out, whoever installed it last probably over-torqued the bolts.

 

Well i never had the thing serviced for years. All i did 3 months ago was suck the oil out and put new stuff in and it never leaked for those 3 months until i got the truck back from this 2nd alignment. Its not squirting out. Its just a small drip, like really slow i can even see it drip when i watch so it must be like a drop every few hours or something.


I tried to take the cover off when i changed the oil but i couldbt get a single bolt off even with a torch and PB blaster.. So if its leaking now and i cant get this off. Thats why i was wondering do you think it would seal if i just smear the RTV where the leak is coming from ? You know how you take caulking and use it in the bathroom in the shower and stuff ? Thats the idea i had for this.

 

use a wrench, or piece of pipe over your ratchet for more leverage....there should be no reason you cant take the diff. cover off......

 

the diff cover bolts are really small, and the torque setting is light, something like 15 pounds. i'm surprised the bolts don't come out fairly easily. the right way to fix it is to remove the cover, clean everything with brake cleaner, check/clean the magnet, and reseal with rtv. like 95ram said, just use a breaker bar or pipe over the ratchet and make sure you're turning it the right way.

if you really want to try it w/o removing the cover, then spray it off with brake cleaner to get ALL the oil off, dry it well and quickly get a coat of rtv over the seam. it won't stick to wet oil, so if you can't get it cleaned off, you're wasting your time. you're actually wasting your time anyway, but if you're determined to try it then go ahead. it might work.

 

I tried it and seems to work, no more leaks and the RTV is holding solid.

 

it will leak again.......between my tranny and T-case i had a leak when i bought it....cleaned it dry and smeared rtv all around it....held up for a month and blew an evn bigger hole.....so thats temporary

 

It's going to get sandblasted off in no time. This is first time I've heard of some one not being able to get the bolts out. Somebody must have put them on with an impact and red loctite.