They lasted THAT long?! Wow. These Carquest bearings are junk. The first set lasted 13 months and now one of them AGAIN is roaring less than 6,000 miles later.

I know that old vehicles leak (I got an oil leak), but my concern is this seal that is leaking that can blow out. At the rate that it has gotten worse over the past 2 weeks (from very small amount of red to big drops), this concerns me. If I was going to get rid of it, I would forget it, but since I am planning on driving it for a while, I want to get it fixed before it is a major problem. At the rate that it has gotten bad, which seal could it be now?

 

Leaking seals can make a mess but not sure they lead to blow outs.

While we are swapping engines on the S10 5 speed we are going to replace rear main and front transmission seals just because when a dry clutch gets wet then it is no longer dry. :B

When I was much younger I worried about issues with my old cars and one day Dad said if you are going to buy used cars then then do NOT try to keep them in new condition but just go buy a new one if that is what you want.

On the Blazer wheel bearings they got loud enough to make talking difficult.

Of one has a hard surface drive an old piece of carpet to change out from time to time can help reduce the mess from leaks.

 

Really? Every tranny guy I spoke to was concerned that it could blow out. Probably thought I know nothing about cars because I am a college student.

Yea I know. I only fix what can cause problems. Stuff that is expensive to fix but will have little benefit like the rear main seal I won't fix. But this seal is different. I want to hold onto this truck as long as possible with minimal major repairs.

Yea if I am on the cell phone on a headset, I have to yell.

At my apartment off campus, it is a dirt/gravel driveway. At home it is a garage with a painted concrete floor and I already have a drip pan for the oil leak. Every once in a while I park where the leaks miss the pan, so when that happens I can use a degreaser and pressure washer.

 

Ok a little update. I went home for the holidays and had the truck checked by a mechanic who my grandfather has known for many many years. The leak suddenly disappeared after driving in the rain, but he pulled the inspection cover and FOUND NO FLUID and concluded the trans was not leaking at all. He also said that if it was the main seal, fluid would be all over the place. Hard to believe since there is red fluid on the garage floor and 3 other mechanics said it was leaking but didn't pull the cover. But he found where my engine oil leak is and it is the gasket on the fitting on the block where the remote oil cooler lines connect. That is getting fixed on Thursday. He also found play in the rear differential (something about the ring and pinion) but didn't say anything beyond that. Shocking since I just had the fluid changed and they found only a "normal" amount of particles on the magnet. I think my locker doesn't work since he was able to turn the wheel on one side and have the wheel on the other side turn in the opposite direction. Wow. So where could the leak be coming from? He said it can't be from overfilling it since it would come out the vent hose.

 

It could still be the dipstick tube O-ring, not sure about that. Maybe your pan gasket?

As for the G-80 locker, it acts as an open differential until the RPM of one wheel overcomes spring tension in the weights that engage the locker. So that being said it will act like an open diff when turning the wheel by hand.

As far as the play in the rear diff a good test is to put it up in the air and the trans in neutral. turn the driveshaft by hand. the driveshaft should not make more than 1/4 rotation without acting on the gears. More than that is "too much".

Glad to hear it isn't your rear main seal leaking.

 

Thanks. I guess I will have to recheck that. There isn't much there now. I was just under the truck to change the trans fluid (via the drain plug. No need to drop the pan since it was only 12-13k since the filter was changed. I have the filter done every 2 yrs/30k and the fluid every year/12-15k), front axle and transfer case fluids. I just had the rear axle fluid changed with a new cover, which I will need to paint before we get any snow so this one doesn't rust like the last one did.

Oh ok. I guess I never pushed it to the point where it would lock, so I can't really tell if it works for sure or not.

I don't think it turned that much. He had it in neutral when he checked it and rotated the driveshaft and wheels at different times.


By the way, I did notice something else with the trans. When I pulled the drain plug (which I upgraded to a magnetic plug even though the mechanic put the magnet in the pan from the other pan), I noticed alot of sludge on it (see photo). After I added what seemed to be about enough fluid (6-6.5 quarts of Valvoline MAXLIFE ATF) to start it (no way was I going to start it after only adding 3.5 qts as the book said, especially with the deep pan) and drive it, it seemed to drive actually a bit better at first and it would go into D or R very fast and firm (I could actually hear it shift in as if the trans put alot of energy into doing that). But then it would turn into shifting later and staying into gears longer (like until 3k RPM), but not slipping or making noises or anything like that. Now it was very very cold, so that might be it, but still. The only real different thing was that I halved the Lucas dose again to only 8 ounces this time (last year was half a quart (16 oz) and the year before was the full bottle (24oz)) since I am trying to gradually phase it out without completely withdrawing it and causing damage. I might have also overfilled it a bit, but it was the same way before. It is over the hot range by about the width of the range, but no fluid is pouring out the vent tube. Do I have a problem here?

 

I think I got 2 new problems.

1. It is clanking when I shift into reverse, but not always. Maybe after letting it sit for a few hours in the garage, but not when it was parked in the cold for 2 hours.

2. When I put my phone under the truck to record how far it rotates when I shift into gear (about 1/8 turn) and I don't know if this is a fluke, but when I started it while I shifted it into Neutral, the RPMs started to drop until it stalled. It started right back up and I was able to shift into D and R no problem. Only R clanked, D was silent. Both were firm. Maybe another bad TPS? It hasn't stalled like that again during the few trips I made after that. Maybe it was the car wash that caused that.

 

2. I'd say it was a fluke.

1. Mine clanks at random times too. depending on the load and how fast i'm going and how much throttle i'm giving it it clanks when it shifts sometimes. I attribute it to the combined play in the gears (trans, transfercase, diff)

 

Maybe it was.

It actually stopped doing it. Maybe the TPS commanded higher line pressure at the time and caused it to clank, but now it is softer.

Also, would changing the transmission fluid make the truck feel like it is bogged down? Since I changed the fluid, it seems to go into D and R fine and shift ranging from better to normal quality and normal to slightly late timing, but it seems the acceleration is alot slower for the throttle position. The gas is the same (I just put some Techron in it also) and nothing else was changed before last night when I put my throttle body spacer (gotta hate those studs. I stripped both ends of them and had to cut both of them down and could not use a washer on one side. Hopefully I didn't strip the threads in the holes in the intake manifold. I am buying an M6 threaded rod to replace both front studs.) and a new Spectre filter (2" more shallow than the other one) back in. That seemed to improve things a bit, but it seems slower to accelerate than before. It is most noticeable when accelerating onto a highway. Only other stuff worth mentioning is that when I pulled the throttle body, the inside looked a bit wet and there was some black stuff (I am guessing carbon), but I didn't smell gas.

 

that would be a great idea it would save you a lot of trouble later as well i would also recommend you check your wiring harness for the trans as well just to make sure nothing is burnt i had that problem with my blazer and it sucks trying to find it with the trans in place.