Anybody here change out their own PTO seal?

[~Barn~]

So over the past couple oil changes that have been done on my MS6, the techs have noticed some slight oil collection on my little scuff-cover, or whatever, underneath the car. I wasn't sure what it was caused from, but it wasn't engine oil, and never really seemed like a huge issue, since the oil collection was minimal.

That said, I did ask Groove Mazda this morning, to see what the scoop was, as I expected my front transfer case to be the cluprit, and sure enough they did confirm for me that the PTO (read: transfer case) was infact where the problem was.

Apparently we're not talking a huge amount of money in terms of parts, but allegedly this is a very high labor cost procedure. - At a dealership. Go figure -

Either way, I'm about 5 months out of warranty on this thing and even though the Service Manager is going to see if Mazda Corporate will make some concessions in fixing this for me, I'm not exactly holding my breath.

So yeah... anybody here ever experience this issue, or better yet, replace the faultly seal/gasket on their own? If you have, and you're looking to make some extra cash, please let me know. I'd much rather work this out with a forum member, and send money your way (and possibly even learn something about my car!), then pay a "book rated" labor premium for a leaky seal.

Thanks in advance if you have any input.

[tbot]

Barn I haven't, but go talk with Dave at Coloradoland and Tire on Crestline and Wads. He was the one that did my rear diff housing and mounts, good guys, good prices, and quality work.

[~Barn~]

Sweet! Thanks 'Bot!

[tbot]

Anytime!

[~Barn~]

Welp... Didn't have a ton of success over at David's shop. Looks like there isn't much info available, that speaks to exactly how difficult and complex this is. Mazda corporate calls it a 5.1 hour job, but since the C&T tech wasn't positive he could do it (easily enough), I bit the bullet and it's at Groove now.

Since I'm just marginally out of warranty, I lobbied on my behalf and got Mazda to cover 1/3 of the cost of the repair, and while it's there with them, I'm just going to have them do my 45,000 service too.

I'm excited to get it returned to me back in tip-top form, but it's a drag that driving season is all but closed for the year. Oh well...

[Huzer]

Equally as labor intensive on the Volvo. The recommended fix? Keep topping off the fluid (seriously). Ha!