Hello everyone,

I had a post a few weeks ago about my mechanic who left my left rear wheel tightend after servicing the engine. I drove to work and back with it tighted, realsing the wheel was smoking.
Anyway, after adjusting the wheel back to normal and telling me that it didnt cause any problems(?), he noticed that my left rear axle bearing was leaking oil and making noise. He assured me that it wouldn't have been caused by the tightend wheel. Is he lying? Could the extra tension on the axle have caused the bearing to wear and leak oil?

If anyone has any answers I would much appreciate it.

Nick.

Nick

this is getting a bit hard.
I still havent understood how/what he did wrong the first time. Was it brakes or what that was causing the smoke.

Could it have been a leaking rear seal that caused the smoke in the first place.

You really need to take it to smoe one you can "show and point" to.

Please Explain...: Rear wheel Tightened.

The brakes?
Why would he touch the wheel if he was servicing the engine?
The large single nut in middle of wheel Must Be Very Tight - so surely you dont mean that one...
The wheel nuts , I imagine you have Five,
can be over tightened but usually results in Bumpy Braking.
Please give us more clues........

here is my understanding,

the mechanic has a bizarre method of turning the engine over while adjusting the valves.

He set the brake shoe adjusting screws so that one back brake was jammed on. He then turned the other back wheel as a method of turning the engine over. normal people would use a shifter on the crank nut.

So then when he was finished he forgot to back off the brake shoe adjusting screws, and hence one of the rear brakes were dragging.

The owner didn't seem to notice the brake dragging, and drove around with one brake continually on.

This of course overheated the brake and make the brake and brake shoes smoke.

If the brake got hot enough it could have caused damage to the rear axle oil seal. Since it seems to be leaking after his silly stunt then I would probably blame him for the leak. He should fix the leak (which will cost him about $5) just out of courtesy for stuffing you around in the first place.

That's some hypothesis Wes and it cerainly sounds very feasable. But would someone really do this?. it would be more trouble and effort than just using a big shifter or socket..If his mechanic did this .....What a Weirdo!

Thanks Wes,
I understand the reason now and agree that mechanic should fix the seal.
I just have trouble fathoming some peoples ideas, I like to be able to see how far " back " I turn the motor each time, but maybe its different " when you dont care ".

Sounds like the voice of experience ???

WOW :o

Sherlock Wes

That would have to be THE weirdest way of doing the valves that i have heard of!

Now if that was the way - yes i can see it "cooked" the seal!

Either way - i wouldnt be giving any referals to go see him!

I know what happened because I paid attention in the last post

yes it is an absolutely bizarre way of doing valves, and I have never heard of someone doing that before. weirdo.

Real accurate way of getting the cam in the right spot to eh!!!!
Hate to think of the valve adjustment setting if they guessed wrong :o

Wes is absolutley right. As I stated in my last post, locking one wheel to turn the engine with the other is my mechanics way tuning the engine.
My only question is, could this have caused my axle bearing to leak? He did fix the leak but has told me that the bearing is on its way out. Is this his fault? How long can I drive with a bearing in that condition? Does anyone like sardines? Can I ask any more questions?

Thanks,

Nick.

either way i would use a different mechanic next time

It wasn't the bearing that was leaking, it was the bearing seal. The seal probably got overheated which probably damaged it and caused the leak.

The bearing itself is another matter. Bearings can typically handle some pretty severe temperatures, and as long as it has oil supplied to it, it should have survived the overheating.

The bearing is probably just naturally worn from 30yrs of use. If he has a bearing puller he could have changed it with the seal for an extra $10-20.

How long the bearing will last will depend on exactly what condition it is in. Someone will have to look at it to tell you that. I would take it to another mechanic though...

just do it urself then u know u've done it and no one to blame but urself!!!! and u save shit loads of money!!!
just done mine it came to $15.40 for the bearing and the oil seal! (oil seal $4.00)
cheers
rhys

I towed a horse float home that had locked up brakes. The heat was enough to destroy not only the grease seals it screwed the hydraulics too. It even blistered the paint on the wheels!
As for adjusting valves via the rear wheels, it's common practice with a conventional motor. I did my MG's by pushing them backwards & using the "rule of 9"- ie adjust valve no.1 when 8 is fully open, 2 when 7 is fully open etc. You numbered the valves from the radiator to the firewall. If it was raining I would jack up ONE rear wheel & turn it. The access to the crankshaft pulley was bad & the genny used to slip because the pulley was small. But why anyone would lock the brakes on one side to stop the diff turning is beyond me!