Black front axle oil - Contaminated?

Morning all,

I think i know the answer but recently changed the axle oil (Def 90, G Reg) and when checking the other day its was nearly black again. I do have a slightly weeping front right swivel seal (swivels have 1 shot grease in) so i'm thinking the axle oil is getting into the swivel housing through the axle seal. What's the expertise opinions?

Thanks

Rich

Well, I'm not too bothered about the colour of the oil, but whether it's doing its job. I've drained the oil from quite a few Land Rover axles in my time and have discovered a variety of fluids in there, including grey sludge and rusty coloured water. Now I'm not an oil analysis guy but I think that the latter probably wasn't helping much. Somehow, changing axle oil is a bit of a blind spot that many owners have. On the front axle, on earlier models the steering swivels and diff shared a common oil bath. It was only later, round about the time that they changed from UJ spiders to CV joints, that they installed an oil seal and had the CVs running in grease and the diff running in oil. A little bit of mixture between the two probably won't hurt. As to the leakage at the swivel balls, I'm not so sure - it depends on how severe it is. If it's getting on the brakes or is likely to occasion comment from the MOT inspector it's worth doing something about but if it is just a minor amount then it can probably be left for a while yet.

Thanks for the reply. As you say, I’m not to bothered about the mix of oils and grease, so may leave it until I can be bothered to take of the housing and replace.

The early 90/110 like yours [ and my 1990 model ] rely on oil migration from axle to hub for bearing lubrication as described by brown above so your swivel grease can mix with the axle oil some and vise versa.
If just a bit wet at the swivel just check levels more often. If dribbling it is time to do the seal.
When rebuilding a hub say after a seal replacement some grease should be smeared on the bearings before hub is refitted. This keeps them happy until more oil finds its way to the hub from the axle.

Tottot thank you for the reply, I’ll leave well alone, it’s only getting slightly damp every so often. I knew the oil migration happened on the rear but not the front.
Many thanks
Rich

I think the older system was better, bearings last longer and some with later models leave the hub outer seal off to have the benefit of oil migration and not rely on just the hub grease. Cheers.

I know oil is expensive but can’t you drain it, refill, drive say 40 miles or so then change it again to be sure there’s no water/muck in there?

Discodevon said:

I know oil is expensive but can’t you drain it, refill, drive say 40 miles or so then change it again to be sure there’s no water/muck in there?

Click to expand...

Already done - water and all sorts came out. This is the second flush so nice and clean (but tinted with swivel grease).

Rich