Need some advice guys.....GF has a diff issue.

My GF has a 2010 Ford Explorer. She's had it since new,done all her work at the dealer ( maintenance mostly). About 6 or 8 weeks ago the rear diff started leaking , so she took it in for repair. It was determined that it was a pinion seal that was leaking , but they wanted to do all 3 seals while they were in there . She's got the extended warranty , so it was all covered except the $100 deductible . 76K miles on the truck when the seals were replaced.

Fast forward 6-8 weeks and 6k miles...and the other day we went somewhere and there's a pronounced whine when she's on the throttle at any speed . It stops immediately if she lets the truck coast in gear. The diff never had any noise before , and they didn't say anything about a problem when they had it apart.

SO....

It's my opinion that they took the whole diff apart to replace the seals and didn't put it back together right. I've never done any diff work..but I remember reading that you have to set the gear lash or the diff will not be happy. Am I correct in assuming that they screwed the pooch on putting it back together right ?

 

Makes you wonder if they even filled it with oil.

 

^what i was thinkin

 

Backlash is probably off. Take it back before you start eating teeth.

 

At 6 K miles if they didn't put fluid in it, it would be gone already.

 

x2 on the backlash, especially if the ring gear had to come apart when they did the seals.

 

We took it back last night..they looked at it today. I was thinking they didn't set it right..I remember reading alot about it. They're " waiting for parts " now...and they want to call the warranty people again . So I'm thinking they screwed up , and want to get paid for the fix this time as well . That's why I'm asking . I think the dealership should eat the repair.

She's had good luck with them in the past,but the service manager retired , and the new one isn't worth a damn . It took getting the management involved the last time to get the repair started . We dropped it off..and she was quoted $2300 to do the 3 seals and replace the struts . Her warranty was bought through the dealer , and she ended up dealing with management because when she called back to talk with the service manager about the warranty he could never be reached and never called back .

 

Dealership should and probably will eat the repair. But don't expect a smooth ride.... If you drove it for 6k with it whining your ring and pinion are probably grooved at least. And they should be putting a new one in. Backlash is a hard thing if you're not 100% perfect with it. One shim could mess up a whole chunk. When they repair tell them you want there best gear guy doing the install.

 

It had no noise at all until Saturday . So the gear whine is a new thing..not something that was driven with for 6k miles.

 

Not familiar with the rear end of the Explorer but why would they have to take the ring and pinion gears apart to replace seals? Check the gear oil level, sounds like its low our empty.

 

Warranty is still good....goes to 96k. Then the deductible comes into play..and I don't think she should have to cover it since it was never spoken about when they had it apart before. It didn't whine when we took it in the first time,and didn't whine after til just the other day. Not sure if it would have leaked down enough in the time it was leaking...it was a drop in the driveway and a wet patch on the front of the diff.