jamas-
there are main seals in both axles, its what seals between the pumpkin and the gearing housing. Not difficult to replace, and just keep an eye on your diff fluid and your fine to drive it (if its the seal on the axle)....
"Do Not Seek Praise. Seek Criticism."
"If You Can't Solve A Problem, It's Because You're Playing By The Rules."
"The Perosn Who Doesn't Make Mistakes Is Unlikely To Make Anything."
-Paul Arden
if its the rear main seal (the front axle has multiple seals, and they call that one the rear main), then its only about 10 bolts i think then they put the new seal in, and bolt it back into place.
any axle should should be able to take care of it for ya. just check your fluid before you drive it and make sure you havent lost too much.
looking at it again... maybe the axle breather is suspect.
No, its the tube coming from the top of the axle. Maybe the diff is too full and pressurizing out of the breather. Just looking at the pictures, the tube is covered in oily dirt.
This looks like a typical axle seal leak to me. Out of all the fluids that come out of our vehicles, I would say axle oil smells the worst, followed by ATF. ATF is easy to spot, because it should have a reddish brown tinge (unless it is badly burnt) and it would be coming from under the middle of your VX.
Axle leaks are pretty easy to spot too, because you will have staining and a drip that accumulates around the area where your axle goes into your differential. To fix these leaks, you will need to drop the front axle and replace the seals on the inside. I did mine last Sept.
Bart
Actually, its not. It cost me a couple jugs of diff fluid, the seals which are cheap, and I also did my CV boots, wheel bearing seals, and knuckle seals at the same time.
Look here:
http://vehicross.info/forums/showthr...le+maintenance
Of course, I did it myself, so it only cost me for parts and fluid. If you have a shop do it, it will probably cost a few hundo. Its more of a pain in the seat than it is expensive.
Bart
After a full once over.....the winner is....
Lower oil pan
Pinion seal
dog pee
You said that the fluid on the outside of your rim that you stuck your finger in smelled bad. What did it smell like? Was it a very strong petroleum smell?
If so, I'm assuming that it's from the front differential but I don't know how it would get on the outside of the rim without getting all over the inside as well.
None of the other fluids mentioned have that strong of a smell (power steering, brake fluid, bearing grease (either front bearings or CVs)).
If I were you, I would do the following in this order:
Check fluid level in front pumpkin
Jack up vehicle (wheel with suspect leak) & shake wheel top to bottom to see if bearing is shot.
Check CVs again but not just for split boots, also check to see if you can determine if grease is getting out past the bands at each end of each boot.
Check other fluids (brake, power steering) to see if level is low or if the smell is similar.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Put a smiley after you say that Bub.
The VX is currently at a trusted Isuzu shop and they have given it a complete once over and found no leaks in boots or anything else around any of my wheels.
They did confirm that the pinion seal was bad and the lower oil pan seal was bad.
honestly, I am really thinking it might have been coincidence and it was a stray dog that came over and peed on my rim. Thats the only explanation that makes sense for this "magic bullet" dilema