Beginning of locker sensor failure?

[thedeatons]

He's an advisor at Mercedes.

Correct. Service Advisor for 5 years, Honda and Mercedes, multiple dealerships. Like someone else posted, any good tech can see tool marks on the bolts if loosened or tightened. It's your Jeep, do what you like... Just know you have been warned. Not saying you WON'T get anything warrantied, just that questions will be asked and eyebrows will be raised if there is evidence of the diff cover having been removed. Once again repeating this is a waste of time for you unless the tech at the dealership can reproduce the problem when it is in his stall, clocked in on warranty time.

*Also note if you have problems in the future regarding that rear diff, like say with gears or seals, and it is recorded in your vehicle's record that you cracked it open on your own, that can be used against you... Just trying to help you with my life experiences, I have nothing to gain here.

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[chevymitchell]

Correct. Service Advisor for 5 years, Honda and Mercedes, multiple dealerships. Like someone else posted, any good tech can see tool marks on the bolts if loosened or tightened. It's your Jeep, do what you like... Just know you have been warned. Not saying you WON'T get anything warrantied, just that questions will be asked and eyebrows will be raised if there is evidence of the diff cover having been removed. Once again repeating this is a waste of time for you unless the tech at the dealership can reproduce the problem when it is in his stall, clocked in on warranty time.

*Also note if you have problems in the future regarding that rear diff, like say with gears or seals, and it is recorded in your vehicle's record that you cracked it open on your own, that can be used against you... Just trying to help you with my life experiences, I have nothing to gain here.

You will not mess any warranty claims up by servicing your diff.

Like I said, they don't even come with drain plugs anymore. Tooling marks on a cover isn't enough to deny a warranty claim. It's a scare tactic from the dealerships and it works on people that don't know any better.

A dealer cannot deny a warranty claim for someone installing an aftermarket diff cover, for example. They can try and will get away with it for someone ignorant, but any person with knowledge of the MMA knows that it allows for independent/3rd party repairs as long as the repairs were done correctly and it lays the burden on the dealership to prove the service/modification was the cause of the failure the person is there for.

And any tooling marks are really subjective. A customer could say they were already there and it would carry the same weight as the tech saying someone opened this up... If a dealership really needs to go that far, then you'd be right up there with the shittiest people to bring your vehicle to. It's the reputation dealerships have and that's how they got it.

Common sense applies, of course. Some things are blatant.

On this forum, you don't need to warn anyone. We all know. This conversation has been beaten into the ground.

Any person can take their vehicle to a 3rd party to have routine repairs done and it doesn't affect the warranty, as well. The dealership isn't the only place to have warranty work done and aftermarket parts don't void anything. (Within reason, welding a truss on, long arm install, stuff like that makes sense.) But opening your diff, servicing it yourself, etc... that's routine maintenance and any dealership arguing otherwise would lose in the end.

 

[thedeatons]

Most dealerships service diffs by sucking out the fluid, then refilling. Oftentimes the diff covers are not removed to service diffs at dealerships these days...

 

[Terrymo]

Shawn and Terry, thank you. Shawn, what/where is “the small bulkhead feedthrough?”

https://www.ebay.com/itm/187037975091

 

[WannFly]

@Wabujitsu if a bonehead like me can do it you can too.

I am a much bigger bonehead than ya'll and I did it last week. If I can do it, anyone can. Take your time, follow the step by step guidance posted in the thread

 

[chevymitchell]

Most dealerships service diffs by sucking out the fluid, then refilling. Oftentimes the diff covers are not removed to service diffs at dealerships these days...

I would agree. In that environment, if a person is only paying for a diff service, then sucking the fluid out would be quickest for the tech. Quickest to get the vehicle back out and on to the next job.

However, almost no one has the servicing tank and compressor at home to do that. I have one here but I don't service diffs that way. Part of servicing the diff should be an inspection and the suction tubes aren't strong enough to pick the chunks of metal off the sump. Dealerships won't perform the inspection step unless there's a reason to. I don't provide my customer base a half ass service.

I offer to weld the drain plugs closed to those that have them and then take the cover off for the service. Jeep was kind enough to provide a fancy reusable gasket, so the extra 5 minutes is worth it to clean it out, not just swap oil.

 

[Terrymo]

I would agree. In that environment, if a person is only paying for a diff service, then sucking the fluid out would be quickest for the tech. Quickest to get the vehicle back out and on to the next job.

However, almost no one has the servicing tank and compressor at home to do that. I have one here but I don't service diffs that way. Part of servicing the diff should be an inspection and the suction tubes aren't strong enough to pick the chunks of metal off the sump. Dealerships won't perform the inspection step unless there's a reason to. I don't provide my customer base a half ass service.

I offer to weld the drain plugs closed to those that have them and then take the cover off for the service. Jeep was kind enough to provide a fancy reusable gasket, so the extra 5 minutes is worth it to clean it out, not just swap oil.

This is exactly why, if I can’t do it myself, I will take my Jeep to a shop like yours, run by a Jeep enthusiast who takes pride in their work and treats people like people.

 

[WannFly]

Shawn and Terry, thank you. Shawn, what/where is “the small bulkhead feedthrough?”

Ignore the missing breather tube

 

[chevymitchell]

Ignore the missing breather tube

That's the one. If you pull the red safety clip back, you can take that little fella off of there. Then shoot it with some CRC cleaner.

 

[WannFly]

and add some dielectric grease before putting the connectors together.

Edit: when I first pulled that connector out, both sides of the connector was filled with oil. Since then, I have changed that feedthrough connector as well.

 

[chevymitchell]

and add some dielectric grease before putting the connectors together

If you'd like, yeah. It's mostly used for corrosion in moist environments. The factory puts some on that connector and the one for the locker position sensor but it doesn't really help with the hot oil intrusion. It's supposed to be waterproof since it's silicon based, but that hot gear oil still gets through to the inside of the connector.

 

[grimmjeeper]

Most dealerships service diffs by sucking out the fluid, then refilling. Oftentimes the diff covers are not removed to service diffs at dealerships these days...

Another good reason not to let the dealership service your vehicle, in my (not so) humble opinion.

 

[Wabujitsu]

Correct. Service Advisor for 5 years, Honda and Mercedes, multiple dealerships. Like someone else posted, any good tech can see tool marks on the bolts if loosened or tightened. It's your Jeep, do what you like... Just know you have been warned. Not saying you WON'T get anything warrantied, just that questions will be asked and eyebrows will be raised if there is evidence of the diff cover having been removed. Once again repeating this is a waste of time for you unless the tech at the dealership can reproduce the problem when it is in his stall, clocked in on warranty time.

*Also note if you have problems in the future regarding that rear diff, like say with gears or seals, and it is recorded in your vehicle's record that you cracked it open on your own, that can be used against you... Just trying to help you with my life experiences, I have nothing to gain here.

I DID have a problem with both diffs leaking a little around the crappy OEM gaskets. Instead of taking it to the dealership to replace the crappy OEM ones with two new crappy OEM gaskets, and as I was taking a cross-country trip in a few days, I paid out-of-pocket and had my preferred off-road shop pull the covers and glue/cement them on with a silicon sealant - which FAR exceeds the OEM standards.

 

[chevymitchell]

I DID have a problem with both diffs leaking a little around the crappy OEM gaskets. Instead of taking it to the dealership to replace the crappy OEM ones with two new crappy OEM gaskets, and as I was taking a cross-country trip in a few days, I paid out-of-pocket and had my preferred off-road shop pull the covers and glue/cement them on with a silicon sealant - which FAR exceeds the OEM standards.

The new XD60's use an o-ring seal with metal on metal clamping. I thought that was super nice of them to do. The 80 is still RTV yet.

 

[Wabujitsu]

The new XD60's use an o-ring seal with metal on metal clamping. I thought that was super nice of them to do. The 80 is still RTV yet.

Shawn, the owner of the shop told me he uses the silicone sealant regularly, instead of the diff gaskets. He claims you can lose all of the diff cover bolts, after it sets up, and it won’t leak and the covers won’t fall off.

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