Hello all,

I have an 02 A6q 2.7t and have been told the rear differential seals (left and right) and the rear transmission seal are leaking. I was also told that after replacing the differential seals, I'd need the wheels re-aligned.

The car has been to 2 other shops and each time was told only one seal was leaking, and nothing about a re-alignment. One place quoted $300, and the other (a dealer) $500. It's now at a recommended indy shop and they are saying the above, and quoting a price of $1500.

I'm hoping someone has experience with this or had this done and can give me an idea of what the deal is, and what costs are reasonable.

Thanks!

 

The rear diff drive shaft oil seals can be replaced somtimes by just unbolting the drive shaft and levering it out of the way of the flang other times you need to drop the diff unit down on to a jack and then reomve the flang this is the most common way. You also have an oil seal on the prop shaft which may be leaking? to change this one you need to drop the propshaft out of the way but if your just changing the drive shaft oil seals you can leave this connected. How ever by doing this your are NOT affecting the wheel alginment and will NOT need to have a 4wheel alginment done due to having any of these seals changed. I would have thought a resonable time for a seal to be change would be 1.5hr for dive shaft oil seal and 2hr for the propshaft oil seal. Are your tyres worn unevenly? did they just notice this while they were looking for the oil leak? or are they ripping you off?

 

Thanks for the reply.

A little background: I took it to an Audi dealer to get the wheels balanced, and they said I had a transmission seal leaking and it would cost $500 to repair. I was at another service shop (used to be a dealer) to unplug a drain hole, and they said the rear flange seal was leaking. Now I took it to a service shop (works on foreign cars BMW/Audi/...) and told them to look for leaks and they are the ones that said in fact 3 seals were leaking (2x diff and 1x rear trans) and in doing such work, I would need to get the rear tires aligned again (he said normally a 1.5 hr job for alignment). There is NO uneven wear on my tires. I'm no car expert so couldn't understand his reasoning.

Are you saying that I should also be looking out for a fourth seal? (The prop shaft seal)?

In the meantime I have gotten an estimate from yet another indy repair shop (they specialize in VW/Audi) and they said to replace the seals mentioned it would be a $630 job. (No mention of alignment, although they haven't seen the car).

I want this fixed, but am also looking for a reliable indy shop to always take my car to. (Wash. DC).

 

The propshaft seal is the rear trans seal. The rear trans seal is pretty common to start leaking. most customers think it is an oil leak though, and bring back the car claiming that it was because of the service, even though we told them about the leaking trans seal. we put the car in the air, and low and behold, it's a trans seal leak...go figure. not too hard, but you might have a little smoke and a funky smell from gear oil that doesn't come off of the exhaust.
As for the diff seals leaking, you can check it yourself by getting a flashlight then bending down and looking at the axleshafts where they bolt to the rear diff. you might want to check the seal where the propshaft bolt to the rear diff while you're down there.