97 Cobra rear end seal

Discussion in 'SVT Forum' started by spanky442, Feb 4, 2004.

  1. spanky442 New Member

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    The rear end on my 97 cobra leaks. Has anyone encountered this? The car only has 25k miles and is garaged and only driven in the summer. There is no reason for this to be happening.
  2. OlderGuy New Member

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    But the seal is still 7 years old regardless of mileage so that might be why it is leaking. I have a 98 Cobra with 34,000 miles.

    According to the Haynes manual it is a pretty easy fix, assuming you mean the seal on the driveshaft side of the differential.

    If I was going to drop the drive shaft and yokes to replace that seal I would also do the one at the end of the transmission as well.

    I have never had to replace them before but it really looks straight forward in the manual. Pry out the old seal, press in a new one.
  3. STUD Banned

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    leaky seals

    The reason your seal is probably leaking is because you never drive it. It's garaged and only driven in the summer. According to SVT, the car shoul never sit longer than a month w/o starting and driving it, max is 2-3 months. SVT told me the car is designed to be driven daily, although, I drive mine only on the weekends. But that's only 5 days in between, perfectly fine. Your seal are drying and cracking because the car is vever driven. Be careful, if your engine seals start leaking it will be big bucks to fix them.

    My 99 cobra has 35k and is as dry as a bone, hopefully it will stay that way until I trade it in for a 2006-007 beast.

    Good luck, and don't mess with it yourself, let the dealer or a professional do it. I see guys on here all the time doing their own work and having problems, unless of course you're a mechanic withh the proper tools.
  4. 98cobrancali New Member

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    they only use silicone to seal it, i would suggest you buy a gasket for it and then use silicone with the gasket, its not very hard to due, i put the gasket on mine sealed it with silicone and never leaked since and it should last a lot longer than just silicone
  5. spanky442 New Member

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    nope, I just pulled out the seal and it is deformed, looks like it cam out of the mold like that. I drive the car on the weekends, it only sits in the winter but I'll fire it up and pull out of the garage let warm up and maybe a quick ride up and down the driveway, I have a long driveway. thanks for the help.
  6. missouri_guy197 New Member

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    Are you talking about the rear end cover gasket? If so what 98cobraincali said it true...it's just a silicone seal...just get some Ultra Black gasket maker from Autozone for about $4 or so and spread a bead of that around on the housing, slap that cover back on and bolt it down...shouldn't leak for another 7 years or so...
  7. spanky442 New Member

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    yeah, I pulled it off and it looked like they didn't put enough on there. Its hard to explain. I guess I could best desribe it as air pockets.

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