2004 V70 RIGHT Axle grease leak question...

[cn90]

OK,

I did the axle reboot with GKN boots x4 in the summer of 2019 as below...

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=91594

Then I sent the car to kid in college some 1,500 miles away summer of 2019.

This week, routine annual inspection at local shop (for DMV purposes) showed grease leak and the photo sent to me showed this.
Minor grease leak I can fix by tightening the Oetiker a bit further when I visit my kid but the photo seems to show
a longitudinal crack (YELLOW arrow)..

Questions for the axle gurus:

1. Is this visual illusion or real?
Sorry I don't have a better photo.

2. Does anyone have a pass side axle and look for me the factory casting (this is factory Volvo axle)?

3. Has anyone ever seen a longitudinal crack like this?

Thanks!

---

[xHeart]

Questions for the axle gurus:

1. Is this visual illusion or real?
Sorry I don't have a better photo.

2. Does anyone have a pass side axle and look for me the factory casting (this is factory Volvo axle)?

3. Has anyone ever seen a longitudinal crack like this?

Clean cast with no visible surface issue.

MVS_V70XC_1616.jpg (106.67 KiB) Viewed 1562 times

[oragex]

If the CV joint housing has a crack you will have grease everywhere

[cn90]

I will have my kid take the car to a Volvo indy shop for inspection soon and keep you guys updated.

However, looking at photo provided by xHeart above and compared against my original photo above, it looks
like the YELLOW arrow is the side view of the factory sticker (that says "Volvo") gently lifting off.
Just a guess.
I will know later bc I have never seen a cracked casing in the tripod area.

[vtl]

It's likely a scratch, not crack.

Also CV boots on later GKN axles were found to have some sort of a breather built-in, or rather a compensation for volume expansion.

What I found to work best for me on older boot is to collapse it lightly before tightening the clamp, i.e. it has some vacuum in cold state. Grease/air heat up quickly inside the boot and expands to a near zero pressure. Don't see any grease after last repack ~1.5 years ago.

[cn90]

Update,

Finally have time to visit my kid in college.
As it turned out, the photo showed the GKN label slightly lifting off a bit, giving the impression that something is wrong,
but nothing is wrong.
The tiny amount of grease that flew off, no issue.
Maybe I overfilled the inner boot with grease when I rebooted it and a bit of grease leaked out.

I checked the inner Oetiker clamp: it is nice and tight.
I wiped off the tiny bit of grease the flew off.
Will observe it but do NOT expect any issues...

Anyway, all is good now, thanks all for your thoughts...

[abscate]

If that housing cracked , it transmits all of the engine torque , so it would fail spectacularly.

Glad it was just the label.

[cn90]

UPDATE another year later,

No more grease leak. The Oetiker clamp is nice and tight.

I discussed the possible cause of grease leak in this thread linked below.
Anyway, after a GKN CV Boot job, a tiny bit of grease escaping the INNER CV Boot is "OK", just
wipe it off and keep an eye on it once a year. No cause for alarm.

DIY: 2004 V70 2.5T Axle and Seal (110K miles)
viewtopic.php?t=91594&start=10

[cn90]

In retrospect,

I think I know the cause for grease leak, during installation, I added a bit more grease than the provided packages.
The INNER GKN CV Boot came with one package of 80 grams.
I added a bit more, maybe another 40 grams or something like that.
During extreme movements (up/down, R/L turns), the tripod is pushed inward and if there is more
grease than recommended, it can be pushed out.

Anyway, lesson learned.

[vtl]

GKN CV boot kit comes with CV joint grease, not tripod. It is more viscous and causes premature tripod failure.

I used VW G052186A3 last time I had to repack tripod.