Found a leak after clutch replacement - confirm?

A local guru put in a new clutch in about 3k miles ago on my 04 PD and I recently noticed an oily film all over the bottom of the panzer plate. I pulled it down to have a look...wasn't too bad of a mess, but there was oily residue and a drop of oil about to fall off the passenger side drive flange. It looks like transmission fluid, although I can't really smell it too strongly. It is clean/clearish.

The oil has been flung around a good bit, I assume by the drive flange - there's blank/burnt stuff all over the bottom of the downpipe (just above the drive flange). and then light coating all over the sway bar and dogbone which is behind it. My guess is the oil seal for this drive flange is shot and leaking. I can't remember if he pulled off the entire flange during the clutch job or just the cv joint connection..we both worked it, but were moving quickly. I'm not sure why it would be removed unless it had to be.

I checked the trans fluid level and some came out when removing the fill plug, so it hasn't lost much. The driver side of the trans looks bone dry, no leakage from the tandem pump or clutch master or slave cylinder.

Does this sound like it's the flange seal or could it be output flange / inner CV Joint gasket. Looks like a seal puller might be needed if the former and a lift would probably be ideal. The cv joint gasket may be an easier job? Would prefer not to drive 2 hours back up there, but if it's a tough job it'll be worth it.

Red arrows are where I saw a lot of oil and the drop about to fall off the flange. It seemed like more oil was around the bigger left facing arrow, but it's been flung everywhere.

I'd guess the axle seal. Not a huge job to replace.

Thanks LNX, is this the right replacement?:

http://idparts.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1892&osCsid=d0a92bf26ccb1f9e2405a56fed14ddd9

Yes, thats the one.

Edit: This thread shows the procedure of replacing them

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=138801

Funny. I had the same exact problem after my new clutch went in the jetta last Month!

I'm assuming once the axle part was removed, going back in it upset the seal.
Fussy VWs can be sometimes

Thanks again all. I think I will tackle this one myself, really only looks like 7 bolts worth of wrenching.

One question, wingnut's guide removed the grease from the flange when he pulled it out. Does it need to be repacked with new grease before sealing back up? and if so, how much and what kind?

When you pull the flange out, you're going to have gear oil leaking all over the place. Drain the tranny first (good excuse to put new trans fluid in anyhow)

You can add some grease to the CV if you want, but you shouldn't lose much out of there, it's thick stuff.

Thx, I actually bought a new inner right side OEM cv boot kit from id today as well as the axle seal...the original is still on there and is starting to crack. Figured it might be a good to hit two birds on this one. Is the CV grease what is inside of the flange?

Will def drain the trans first, but going to save it. It was brand new amsoil gl-4 75w-90 I put in after the clutch job a few thousand miles ago I do have an extra bottle, I usually try and jack it up on the driver side and add a little extra for 5th gear.

Yeah the grease is located in between the flange and the CV (It's not a sealed unit like on the 1.8T/VR6 cars)

Well, this was going quick and smooth today, until I got to actually replacing the seal. The original seal must of have melted/bonded/seized itself into place after 220k miles. I tried lightly pulling it out with my seal puller, and it just stretched and then tore. I eventually got too aggressive and then damaged the soft metal of the flange shaft trying to pry it out with both the seal puller and then a flat head. Damn. Fortunately, it doesn't look like it be that bad of a mistake. I'm not sure where I went wrong with pulling this seal...was the black plastic ring that slides over it supposed to come off to remove the rubber seal easier? I had left it on. This thing was just not budging. Maybe that's normal after this long.

I think I need this now:
http://www.ecstuning.com/ES253184/





Any recommendations for removing this from the diff? I don't want to mess anything major up moving forward. Funny how the simplest of jobs turn into a headache.

Got the original flange piece out with some brute force. Didn't have access to the puller tool that the Bentley notes, but saw a thread on vortex where someone ran into a similar issue and bent the flange end up to get it out...used a small piece of wood as to prevent any damage to the differential and hammered the lip up of the sleeve a half inch to collapse it and break the seal. Came right out with some pliers. After getting the flange out, the old seal was fused to sleeve...guess it was just bad luck.

Have to order a flange/sleeve now (part 02J409528A), but should be back in business soon.