Pinion seal bad? Pics included

[zhmorrow]

I did a quick search and I think my pinion seal is going bad. I’m having fluid flung onto my gas tank. Also getting a shutter sometimes on certain hills pullin my trailer. I’ve attached fluid 

[Grumpy Bear]

This is a pinion seal leak. Your pinion area is dry. Keep looking.

 

 

 

[Adamace1]

Yea I'm going with not a pinion seal. Did you touch it with your fingers to see if it's oil?

[JimCost2014]

What is the ziptie for, and what is it holding in place?

 

Wonder if it is a gas leak, just by the way it looks like it is eating the coating away on the piece in the picture?

Edited September 25, 2021 by JimCost2014

[CamGTP]

Does the rear diff have a breather hose that goes up around the gas tank??

[gemarsh]

Looks like a fuel leak. Just fast enough to keep some of the dirt washed clean. Any leaking oil won't be clean to bare metal. It would just keep getting layers of oil and dirt. Gas will keep cleaning.

[gemarsh]

Like the old cheech and chong skit...look smell taste. Do you smell gas?

 

PS...what is up with the white zip ties?

Edited September 25, 2021 by gemarsh

[JimCost2014]

It does look like there is a tube/hose directly to left of the tank that looks wet.

[Black02Silverado]

If that is diff oil then it  will stink like diff oil.  You can't forget that smell if you ever changed out the fluid before. 

[diyer2]

Fuel from overfilling the tank. 

[zhmorrow]

On 9/25/2021 at 5:52 AM, Black02Silverado said:

If that is diff oil then it  will stink like diff oil.  You can't forget that smell if you ever changed out the fluid before. 

It definitely smells like gear oil. Has lubricity like gear oil.   Everything around the pinion is oily. The tank is only wet on the side where the gear oil is being flung. Above the pinion is the bottom of the truck bed and that is wet. Dirty is sticking and making a mess. 
 

[zhmorrow]

I’ve added more photos. Everything I’ve circled has oil on it. The arrows represent the direction at which the oil is being flung. Looking at the shield over the fuel tank is a give away. And then on the bottom of the bed. It all correlates. 
 

also; I’ve also been experiencing a shutter at times on certain on some interstate hills. Doesn’t do it all the time. Im hoping this is related to low diff fluid and nothing more serious so we will see. 

[zhmorrow]

On 9/24/2021 at 10:20 PM, JimCost2014 said:

What is the ziptie for, and what is it holding in place?

 

Wonder if it is a gas leak, just by the way it looks like it is eating the coating away on the piece in the picture?

Zip tie is holding my solenoid off of my original magnaride shock. I switched to a spring/shock and to bypass the “service suspension” warning  you can remove the solenoids from the original shock and plug them in and trick the sys. I will probably go back to magnaride soon lmao. 
 

[Adamace1]

Are you getting the seal replaced? I see in your other pics your right about where it's leaking from.

[gemarsh]

On 9/27/2021 at 2:19 PM, zhmorrow said:

Zip tie is holding my solenoid off of my original magnaride shock. I switched to a spring/shock and to bypass the “service suspension” warning  you can remove the solenoids from the original shock and plug them in and trick the sys. I will probably go back to magnaride soon lmao. 
 

That's one strange pinion seal leak.

 

Thanks for the pictures. I have done all the oil changes on the 21, but never bothered to look at the driveshaft. It's good to know that gm did away with that damn melted plastic to retain the caps of the u-joint.