98' V70XC ATF in Angle Gear?

[850 LPT]

Hi folks,

I have a questions for the AWD experts out there.

About 3 weeks ago I took out my front CV axles because all the boots were starting to crack and I went ahead and replaced them. All went well with doing this job, but when I took the passenger side axle out, I noticed that the axle seal in the angle gear was torn. It took me about a week to get a replacement from the dealer, so the car sat with no axles for some time. I finally put everything together again last Saturday.

Last Friday I noticed a sizeable puddle of oil under the car, this really stumped me. The oil had a reddish tint to it, which makes me think that this was ATF, maybe mixed in with the angle gear oil?
When I took the driver side axle out quite a bit of ATF came out of the trans, but it didn't even occur to me that more could leak out and enter the angle gear.
Has anyone seen this happen before? Also, what can be done to prevent this from happening?

I guess I will suck out the fluid in the angle gear and fill with gear oil and then hope for the best.

Thanks, Dirk

[Ozark Lee]

There is a double seal on the collar that is on right side of the transaxle that should keep the gear lube and the ATF from mixing. The axle itself, however, goes through a middle seal through the collar and you could have a transaxle leak there. I can't remember if the axle seal is its own part or if it is all a part of the collar seal.

Volvo had a TSB to drill through the bottom angle gear bolt hole to act as a drain plug, your car may or may not have been modified but you might be able to drain the gear by removing the bottom bolt on the case.

...Lee

[850 LPT]

Thanks Lee,

I have a vacuum pump with 2 gal. canister designed for jobs like this, so I'm going to leave the angle gear casing alone.

Also, I was hoping to alert people with AWD cars that the angle gear oil can get contaminated if the CX axle has been taken out for too long.
Something to watch out for.

Dirk