New issue: front gear differential seal leak

[buzpro]

O

my 2023 blk diamond 11000 miles has been in the dealer shop since Sept 11 with a leaking rear main seal on the front diff. have been told parts ordered but some "once only use" bolts and studs did not come in. has anyone else heard this or is it a line of shit?
waited 20 months for this and now going on 2 more months. does Ford not know how to seal a differential?? Ford has building cars and trucks for over one hundred years and still can't fix the problems. shoulda bought a Jeep or Toyota! Oh and they want ME to pay for a loaner!

One dealer told me they ordered the part for me but due to a national shortage there is no ETA on the part and they will call me when it comes in. Another dealer told me since its a common problem they can get it done but in a month from now due to being so busy. Go figure!

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[pjstans]

Count me in, noticed the drip in the driveway today

Add yet another - 22' Wildtrak - 16K miles - normal driving - noticed during a routine oil change - leak is substantial and dealer will have for "awhile" (supply chain issue.....for parts). Will also be looking at the differential - this smells like a design flaw. How many here think this issue (which now appears to be a problem..) will turn into a recall?..IMHO is should as this should not be happening...and a few on here have had to do this once in only a short amount of time

 

[FDHog]

More like a shipment of faulty parts than a design flaw. It's just a seal.

 

[pjstans]

#MB3Z-4141-C is the entire front axle assembly. You're getting a new front axle. The pinion seal already comes installed as a full unit with this part number. They will not replace the axle shafts. It is a fairly straightforward install, I had the same thing done by my dealer. It took 20 days for the axle to come in. I dropped mine off at 8am and had it back by 3pm fully tested. They initially told me 6 hrs labor but I don't think it even took them that long.

The fact that it's not just my dealer replacing the whole axle for the pinion seal leak, leads me to believe that Ford is now telling the service departments to just replace the whole thing, even though there is a part # for just the seal. The main thing in my mind is that they could have found that there was some quality issue with the supplier (Dana) installation of the gears or possibly pinion bearing issues. If it were just a problem with the seal, they would only replace that; it is a cheap part and not nearly as much labor to replace. But pinion seals failing even in the first 100k miles is not normal, and leads me to believe that they discovered issues with the diff internals on these units.

I believe this is a design flaw and Ford should issue a recall..this should not be happening at all especially with new vehicles and there are reports of multiple occurrences on the same truck within a short amount of time - 22" Wildtrak - 16K miles - normal driving - plus supply chain issues - Ford needs to get on this and eat the cost

 

[buzpro]

Add yet another - 22' Wildtrak - 16K miles - normal driving - noticed during a routine oil change - leak is substantial and dealer will have for "awhile" (supply chain issue.....for parts). Will also be looking at the differential - this smells like a design flaw. How many here think this issue (which now appears to be a problem..) will turn into a recall?..IMHO is should as this should not be happening...and a few on here have had to do this once in only a short amount of time

More than TWO years after the global Covid era and Ford is still having supply chain issues? Thank god it makes cars for a domestic market, otherwise we would be waiting for years just to get a seal. ..... Phew!

 

[WI/DS]

I had the front pinion seal replaced after 7k miles on my 23. 3 Trips to the dealer for them to finally admit the seal was leaking. They kept trying to tell me the oil filter was leaking and dripping down on the differential. It was pretty damn irritating.

 

[615_Bronco]

Add me to the list. Topped it off before I make my way back home tomorrow and have my local dealer fix it after Thanksgiving.
Hopefully the seal aint on backorder

 

[MRBOHN23]

Noticed my front differential leaking yesterday while I had the front skid plate off doing my second oil change. Only 2,000 miles and I thought I was seeing things. Wiped the differential clean drove it last night and today there’s 2 quarter size drips on my garage floor.

 

[ar1]

One day before my 1yr anniversary

 

[ar1]

In this thread I'm counting 24 owners experiencing front diff leaks and 5 who have had the leak recur post-fix. I'm very nervous about the number of unsuccessful repair attempts documented here.

 

[swooshdave]

I was changing my oil (23 Badlands with 19k) and thought it was the transfer case that was leaking. Took it in today and they say front diff. Parts on order and I'll have to go back in.

 

[swooshdave]

have been told parts ordered but some "once only use" bolts and studs did not come in. has anyone else heard this or is it a line of shit?

Some bolts are "torque to stretch" and thus one time use. Very common these days. I've seen them a lot on BMWs, but that's just what I'm use to. Some bolts you can re-use, typically low stress parts.

 

[tock13]

I had the same leak with 125 miles on the clock, had the Bronco a whole 6 days. 'Dealer said" the seal was installed wrong at the factory. Mine was a 2023...you would think by now, when a company like Ford who has been making the same kind of product since day one, would be making near flawless vehicles by now. Except that they seem to go cheaper on everything each year, deny issues they should man up and take responsibility for and have some of the most ridiculously inept engineering designs on the market.

I don't get it....but... I still L O V E the Bronco. Its an odd deal.

 

[0ne]

I had the same leak with 125 miles on the clock, had the Bronco a whole 6 days. 'Dealer said" the seal was installed wrong at the factory. Mine was a 2023...you would think by now, when a company like Ford who has been making the same kind of product since day one, would be making near flawless vehicles by now. Except that they seem to go cheaper on everything each year, deny issues they should man up and take responsibility for and have some of the most ridiculously inept engineering designs on the market.

I don't get it....but... I still L O V E the Bronco. Its an odd deal.

I think the front and rear diffs are Dana made complete sub-assemblies provided to Ford? The repair is either piecemeal or complete replacement depending on the dealership’s service department capabilities at the time?

 

[ar1]

My car has been in for a week and the plan of action is to replace the pinion seal and flange. Interestingly some lesser-priority concerns are resulting in some more major parts swapping for other unrelated things.

It would be nice for the car to be totally issue free but on the other hand I'm glad the dealer is at least being very proactive about addressing everything and not pushing back. Crossing fingers for the seal job.

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