My Boots are leaking!

After the camshaft swap saga it was time to see how BART ran on the road and bed in the new camshaft.  I went for a short rev. limited 5mile drive to get him warmed up and to see if there where any issues.  

Back home all looked OK, no leaks from the new seals or gaskets and the cam belt was still running in the same place on the auxiliary pulley, however, I could smell burning oil.  

A quick look under the car revealed...

The long drive shaft inner boot was leaking...badly.  Enough for the oil to fly back on to the exhaust causing the smell.  I also managed to burn my forearm on the exhaust whilst taking the picture adding to the smoke!

I had anticipated replacing the inner drive shaft boots and had already purchased the parts so now was as good a time to do the work as any!

The long drive shaft has to be removed from the car to replace the boot, the short one can be done on the car.

The first job was to undo the axle nut on the drive shaft and then get the rear of BART up in the air on axle stands.

Then it's necessary to remove the brake calliper and tie it up out of the way.  With that done undo the hub to strut bolts leaving one in place for now and then undo the three small bolts that hold the inner boot retaining plate to the gearbox.  Access to these is tight with the lower engine mount and cross member in place but can be done with a 1/4" drive socket and extension.

I use adjustable camber bolts on the top retaining strut bolt so marked the relation of the bolt head and tab to the hub with a marker pen, this should mean that I'll get the camber just about spot on during reassembly.

I noted the piston dust cover on the calliper had perished but these are easy to replace, they just pull out and the new one slipped over the piston, make sure the cover fits into the groove on the calliper.

Somebody had already been here on BART and replaced two of the small bolts with studs for the retaining plate, not a bad idea but the third bolt had been replaced with a different sized 12point bolt....

Of course I didn't have a 12point socket so had to purchase one from Amazon! It came the next day and I was able to undo the last bolt.

With that done place a very large drip tray under the gearbox and pull the boot back away from the gearbox.  A large amount of oil will issue forth!  Line up the Tripode drive bearing with the cutouts in the gearbox then remove the last hub to strut bolt and separate the two.  Push the A arm down and carefully ease the splined shaft from the hub, it has to be pushed a fair way down but will clear the hub.  With that done you can now gently remove the drive shaft from the gearbox.

One Driveshaft

With that done I could now remove the Tripode bearing, and boot, replacing with new parts.  The Tripode is held in place with a circlip and then simply slides of the drive shaft.  As I removed the boot I noted evidence of the boot being replaced previously as the old inner seal was still on the shaft and the current one simply fell out of the boot!

Boot, Retaining plate and Tripode bearing

Two old inner boot seals

The new boot was purchased from Eurosport-uk and was of a different design to the old.  It was smaller and didn't seem to have the removable seal feature of the old ones, I hope the design proves to be better at keeping the oil in the gearbox! 

New Boot (Right) and Tripode bearing

Replacement is the reverse of removal, just be careful not to damage the Tripode bearing when inserting it back into the gearbox.  The bearing only fits one way on the drive shaft and if fitted the wrong way you won't be able to install the circlip.  With the shaft installed and the hub, strut and shaft all joined back together I fitted a new axle shaft nut and replaced the brake calliper.  With the handbrake on this was torqued up to 100lbft.

The short drive shaft boot can be replaced on the car, it wasn't leaking but as I was here it was best to do both.  Same procedure except the axle nut doesn't need to be removed and access to the boot retaining plate bolts is easier.  Remove the calliper (I replaced the dust boot here as well) and disconnect the strut from the hub.  Pull the boot back and line up the Tripode to the cut outs as before.  Then push the A arm down and the shaft should pull out of the gearbox.  It's a little tight on space but the end of the driveshaft can be swung towards the rear of the car to gain access to the circlip, Tripode bearing and boot.

Reassembly is the reverse of removal again, make sure the area where the retaining plate bolts to the gearbox is clean and that no grit made its way inside or onto the Tripode bearing, it is a precision part.  Unfortunately the marks I made on the adjustable camber bolts rubbed off and I had to guess the position during reassembly!  This meant another trip to Blackboots in Chesham to check the alignment doh!  The last job was to top up the gearbox oil.   A short test drive later and no leaks where detected...so far.  I'll keep my finger crossed this is one job I don't have to revisit soon.