Pinion seal repaired and now the diff is whirring

[Snrawd2015]

Hi all, just had the pinion seal replaced as it had a slight leak. Oil also changed. Since this has been done i’m now noticing a whirring sound almost like a low pitched whine from the back. Assuming this is the diff. It was not doing this before leading me to believe something has not been done correctly with the changing of the pinion seal. I have taken it back to the garage but they won’t be able to look at it till monday. Its a specialist indy garage.

Right now my confidence in them is shot considering my car was test driven after the seal was replaced and ok’d. How it wasn’t picked up on the test drive how i don’t know but i’ panicking now thinking they have potentially overtightened the pinion nut. Could this has damaged my diff completely? I’m hoping not but i also wonder if i should even allow them to attempt to fix it or would i be within grounds to request a full refund and take it to another garage? What would you all do in this scenario?

On a side note to say i’m annoyed is an understatement statement as i had plans with the car over the weekend. I also brought it in as a preventative measure as when it was serviced by the garage last year they mentioned it has a slight weep on the diff and i thought lets get it sorted however i never actually ever had any issues with the diff being loud or noisy before it was perfectly fine.

 

[stickshift steve]

if you ask for a refund or take it to another garage you will not have any recompense if they have destroyed your diff.

 

[Snrawd2015]

Ok i will go down to the garage tomorrow and speak with them. Hoping the pinion nut just needs retorquing and the diff is ok.

 

[RPSN]

I’m wondering if they used the correct grade and quantity of oil in the diff as shown here...https://www.ftypeforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=67106#p67106

In case you haven’t seen them, have a read through these links...

https://www.ftypeforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=51443#p51443

https://www.ftypeforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=6701

Hopefully when you take the car back to the ‘specialist indy garage’ they’ll be able to sort it out for you. In the meantime I wouldn't use the car much at all being as since they did the job you've noticed a whirring sound almost like a low pitched whine from the back.

 

[Snrawd2015]

Thanks for that i will have a look at those.

I took it straight back to the garage as soon as i heard something wasn’t right and it was only a 5 min drive away. The car has been there but they will be back open on monday so will go down and speak with them.

 

[Snrawd2015]

So an update,

The garage have gone over the job again and readjusted the pinion nut and all so far seems to be good car is running fine again no noise from the diff.

 

[cj10jeeper]

So an update,

The garage have gone over the job again and readjusted the pinion nut and all so far seems to be good car is running fine again no noise from the diff.

Well it's good to hear the garage has fixed it, but this should never have happened if they had marked the position of the pinion nut before loosening it, or used a new torque sleeve (collapsible spacer) when refitting.
They clearly didn't set the correct pinion gear preload, making the pinion too tight or loose and resulting in poor meshing of the ring and pinion gears and therefore the whirring noise.
Could easily have trashed the diff if you'd driven distance on it..

 

[Snrawd2015]

I agree and i’m glad I took it right back and luckily the garage wasn’t far away.