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Blew a transmission seal on a '14 Focus yesterday and I'm still pissed
Was doing a simple fluid change on a customer's car yesterday afternoon, nothing crazy. Got the pan off, cleaned everything up, put the new filter in with a fresh gasket. Torqued it to spec at 89 ft-lbs like the manual says. Buttoned it up, started filling fluid, and saw a steady drip coming from the output shaft seal. Had to drop the pan again, pull the whole halfshaft, and replace that stupid seal. Cost me an extra hour and a half of labor I can't bill for. Anyone else have these Fords just decide to fail at the worst possible moment?
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ericjackson5d ago
Man, I felt that "just decide to fail at the worst possible moment" line in my bones. On those Focus models, the output shaft seals are notorious for getting a little brittle and then just giving up when you breathe on them wrong. A tip from an old timer that saved me a few times: before you even pull the halfshaft, hit the seal area with a heat gun on low for a minute. Sometimes that softens the rubber enough that it'll reseat itself if it's just slightly cocked. But if it's actually torn like yours probably was, you're pulling the axle no matter what. Honestly, for the next time, a Lisle seal puller tool is like 15 bucks and makes that job a ten minute swap instead of a nightmare. You did the right thing eating the labor cost though, way easier than explaining to that customer why their transmission is puking fluid on their driveway.
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zara_allen5d ago
Wait, you ever had a buddy who thought he could just tap a seal in with a socket and a hammer real quick? My friend Dave tried that on a Chevy Cruze and ended up shoving the whole seal sideways into the trans, had to drop the subframe to fish it out with a magnet on a stick. Took him like 4 hours and he still had a small leak after he finally got a new one in. I still give him crap about it every time we work on something together.
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