Front differential pinion seal leaking

[Nic928]

I have had this issue since October 2022 and have notified my Ford dealer in Tucson repeatedly. They keep telling me it’s on back order but come on it’s been 7 months!!! I have to keep reaching out to them for updates but literally they offer no help. Feel like they really dropped the ball on this for me and I’m frustrated . Am I supposed to just keep driving with a leaky seal until it craps out…any suggestions?

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[Ford Motor Company]

I have had this issue since October 2022 and have notified my Ford dealer in Tucson repeatedly. They keep telling me it’s on back order but come on it’s been 7 months!!! I have to keep reaching out to them for updates but literally they offer no help. Feel like they really dropped the ball on this for me and I’m frustrated . Am I supposed to just keep driving with a leaky seal until it craps out…any suggestions?

Hi Nick! I can look into your Bronco's leak concern on my end. To get started, could you please send a private message over with the name/location of your local Ford dealer and your Bronco's VIN?

 

[los7883]

I just did my oil change today and noticed oil under there as well, but not engine oil, looked a lot cleaner. Could this possibly be the differential pinion seal yall are talking about too?

 

[BroncoKelley]

I guess I’ll join the club. 23 big bend Sasquatch 6,800 miles. I just changed the oil 3 weeks ago and it was fine.

 

[BigMeatsBronco]

I've seen oil come out of the electric plug from the locker as well.

 

[5thGenTexan]

Just had my 22 Badlands pinion seal replaced for the leak at 22k. Took about 2 weeks for part to come in to dealership. For those wondering about driving with the leak, this is what the service advisor told me... you will be fine unless you're wanting to engage 4 wheel drive. I do believe, for me at least, this has been the cause of the burning smell I've had since last November and would have started at 14k.

 

[los7883]

Just had my 23 Badlands pinion seal replaced for the leak at 22k. Took about 2 weeks for part to come in to dealership. For those wondering about driving with the leak, this is what the service advisor told me... you will be fine unless you're wanting to engage 4 wheel drive. I do believe, for me at least, this has been the cause of the burning smell I've had since last November and would have started at 14k.

Damn thats crazy! Thanks for the update, I’m taking mine in tomorrow. We’ll see what they say.

 

[Razorback]

Oh boy, here we go again... The '21 Badlands has had front pinion seal replaced twice (so far it seems to be good). Now wife's '23 WT with 9k miles is leaking. It's actually more of a seep and coating the bottom of front diff and skid plate. Seems there really is some issue on the front diffs... Most people probably don't realize it unless they change their own oil and is up underneath....

 

[Sitruc_btb]

Checking alignment on my 22 BL yesterday at work, and glanced under the vehicle just to see, and noticed my front pinion seal is leaking as well. 6500mi on the clock.

 

[los7883]

Checking alignment on my 22 BL yesterday at work, and glanced under the vehicle just to see, and noticed my front pinion seal is leaking as well. 6500mi on the clock.

Yea just got mine back last week. They had it for about a month and a half. $1k repair covered under warranty.

 

[Sitruc_btb]

Yea just got mine back last week. They had it for about a month and a half. $1k repair covered under warranty.

That's crazy. A month. Were they waiting on parts?

 

[los7883]

That's crazy. A month. Were they waiting on parts?

It took them like two weeks for the seal, they also had to deal with a paint issue I had. Looks like there was some debris under the paint on my rear passenger door. They had to fix that too.

 

[indyjones]

I've had 2 issues with my Bronco. The first is the front pinion seal which was leaking - first sign of that for me was a burning oil smell by 15k km. The first replacement took 3 weeks as the seal wasn't available (that was in March). In June, I heard a high pitched rotational whine coming from the back end, starting at 30 kph and increasing in volume with speed. It was a new noise, but always there. I would describe it like a background noise, almost like a field of crickets or cicadas (dry, higher pitch; not everyone could hear it) and with no vibration. My car was deemed safe to drive so I left it until 4 weeks ago when the front pinion seal started to leak again. The dealership was thorough. Front pinion seal was not properly seated so that has been replaced again (and we will see). The back end noise was more of a surprise - the cone and rollers had a factory defect in their plating and it was wearing down the bearings in the differential. That assembly and the bearings were replaced, and the noise is gone.

 

[BRONCO-4x4]

Yep, Front diff leak. 2022 2.7 2-door Badlands SAS 20k. Now three seals and a flange later still not fixed. Pushing three months sitting at the dealer. Now I'm waiting for the complete front diff replacement. I've been told another week and a half to get the diff and it should take less than a day to install (fingers crossed). The dealer should have ordered the diff after the first or second seal replacement if they had done there homework. Three tries to fix this and a three month loaner is a huge waist of money and everyone time. Yep, I'm thankful to have a loaner. 2023 4-door Outer Banks non-SAS.

 

[toughtoaster]

This happened to my 22 Bronco Badlands back in May with only 5K miles. Went for an oil change and pulled off the skid to make sure everything looked good and there was a huge amount of oil on the skid. Thought the oil guys got sloppy but turned out it was a leaky front pinion seal.

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