trans fluid leak - axle seal?!

[msportegee]

after work one day noticed my msp had left a ninice puddle of tranny fluid on the ground. crawled underneath in hopes to diagnose a quick solution but couldn't find the source.

drove it home carefully, pulled the wheel and noticed a lot of fluid build up around the axle.
the following day I decided to replace the axle seal (knowing that the part was going to be difficult to find on the island)

pulled the seal and noticed a few alight tears and the spring on the back of the seal was surprisingly slacked giving no tension on the axle. oreilleys supplied me with a new seal and here's where my problem lies. the new seal I got didn't exactly match the oem one I pulled. BUT, was their cross referenced seal in their database. conviced it would work I installed it onky to find the same leak 15 miles after I installed and testdrove it.

my questions:
any specially seating required for these seals? I assumed they just popped right in

would the differences In the seals prove to be my problem?

 

[msportegee]

... a buddy of mine recommended another thing to look at might be the trans breather cap bwing plugged?

any insight on this problem would be greatly appreciated

 

[hornsfan10609]

The seals have no special installation or anything they just pop in and don't typically leak. It's possible it was damaged when you installed the new axle or it may be the wrong seal. The MSP has larger CV axles but the axle seals are the same.

 

[msportegee]

also I noticed there doesn't appear to be any oem gasket between the case and the differential - correct?

 

[hornsfan10609]

There is silicone to seal the trans case halves but the diff does not have any sealant or gasket on it. Axle seals do not require silicone.

 

[msportegee]

is that a common problem, the case halves leaking?

 

[msportegee]

highly doubting it but I'm starting to think there may be a hairline crack somewhere on the case that I'm mot seeing. the amount of fluid coming out is prettty substantial.

 

[hornsfan10609]

It's not super common but if someone has opened the case and did a crappy job sealing it, then it is possible to leak. The cases can also crack but I would be surprised if that happened on a stock car unless the motor mounts are shot.

 

[msportegee]

the horrors of buying a used car! most likely if the clutch has been done then its a possibility. I'm going to put the oem axle seal in just to make sure it wasn't the oreilleys seal causing the leak. 10$ solution vs pulling the whole trans. keep you posted