Rear Hub Leak & ABD Sensor - Land Rovers Only

murray.richardt · 11-02-2009, 07:09 AM

I’ve got a ’03 Discovery and I had a code read that indicated a bad wheel speed sensor. On one of the rear hubs, it looks like the oil seal is leaking, which would let oil into the area of the wheel speed sensor. This, presumably, is the problem. My question is: could I just re-seal the current hub (and give the sensor a good cleaning while I’m in there) or has the oil likely destroyed the sensor and I need to buy a $400 hub?

Roverhound · 11-02-2009, 11:20 AM

How are you going to reseal bearing? If you have oil in the hub it won't be long until the hub is shot.
You can find a better price then $400. Do a search.
Here's a helpful fact, the rear hub is more expensive new then a front hub. They are the same part, the only difference is the rear hub comes with the large o-ring that seals it to the axle.

murray.richardt · 11-02-2009, 01:52 PM

Atlantic British has the hub for $380, who do you think might have it cheaper?

As far as re-sealing it: I looked at the section view in RAVE and it looks like I can pull the hub and replace that big o-ring you mentioned ($10 at A-B). That looked like the only seal in there, and if it failed (which I think it did) it would let oil into the area of the wheel speed sensor, possibly corrupting it.

However, this may all be academic. I have an appointment with an independant LR specialist tomorrow morning. I just rebuilt the modulator and replaced the flex lines, so I'm going to have him reset the computer and read off which sensor is rotten. I told him about my oil-seal theory - he said that what usually kills the speed sensor is play in the wheel bearing. I suppose that if the o-ring is leaking oil into the hub, it could wash out the grease in the hub bearings and cause premature wear, but presumably the leaking oil would still lubricate the bearing, so I don't know. I guess the oil would not do the job of the grease.

Like I said - we'll see tomorrow.

Disco Mike · 11-02-2009, 01:59 PM

You may also look at just replacing the rubber o-ring between the the hub and diff case, that may be your only problem and at $1.29 from A.B.

murray.richardt · 11-02-2009, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Disco Mike

You may also look at just replacing the rubber o-ring between the the hub and diff case, that may be your only problem and at $1.29 from A.B.

Yeah, That's what I meant. I thought it was $10, that was the axle nut.

Worst-case, I guess I could re-seal it and if the sensor dosn't come back to life, I can replace the hub. The only additional cost beyond doing the hub straight away would be the $12 between the o-ring and the 1x use axle nut.

Roverhound · 11-02-2009, 04:37 PM

The bearing itself is sealed. If you meant that you have oil on the hub and not in the hub, then try changing the o-ring.
Getting oil on the sensor won't currupt it. Remember, it is constantly getting covered in water and mud all the time, oil won't effect it. Add that to the fact it is sitting in a sealed housing between 2 bearings that themselves are packed with grease and you can see why a little oil won't hurt it.
You may have a bad bearing seal allowing the oil to leak out through the bearing itself. If this is the case you will need a new hub.
Try Will Tillery for parts.
Good luck, I hope it is only the o-ring but due to the fact you are throwing faults it sounds like a hub to me.

jycsalas · 11-03-2009, 09:32 AM

Get the codes read on the ABS issue.

For your hubs, you can remove the brake dust shield and clean everything real good. Drive around (without the shield) until it starts to leak again. Take a pic of the leak and post it.

Find out if the leak is coming from between the axle case and the hub, (where the O ring would be at fault), or at the end of the hub between the hub and hub flange....(the hub has a bad seal).

I took care of a rear hub leak with White shepherd. Don't ask how it worked....it just did.

And it wasnt a bad O ring.... I replaced it twice

jycsalas · 11-03-2009, 09:36 AM

also I pulled out the hub with axle and all so i did not have to deal with the axle nut.

rmuller · 11-03-2009, 10:25 AM

You do not need to remove the stake nut to get to that o-ring.. just pull the brakes off, then take the 4 or so bolts out for the hub and pull out the hub & axle as one unit ...and replace that seal... also check the housing to make sure it is smooth... mine kept going through o-rings and i found there to be a bit of rust in the end of the housing which was destroying the o-rings... i grinded it down with a dremel and hit it with some spray paint and its been good for over a year now.

jycsalas · 11-03-2009, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rmuller

You do not need to remove the stake nut to get to that o-ring.. just pull the brakes off, then take the 4 or so bolts out for the hub and pull out the hub & axle as one unit ...and replace that seal... also check the housing to make sure it is smooth... mine kept going through o-rings and i found there to be a bit of rust in the end of the housing which was destroying the o-rings... i grinded it down with a dremel and hit it with some spray paint and its been good for over a year now.

that's how i did mine...

Except I didnt have rust...I had an imperfection on the inside on the axle casing...

i had to grind it down with a dremel and use some jb weld to build up the missing chunk.

murray.richardt · 11-04-2009, 07:55 AM

OK, so I just had the codes read: No wheel speed sensor faults at all; I guess was mistaken about that. There was, to my utter disappointment, a shuttle valve fault, which I had just rebuilt with the $50 kit. I now have a complete eBay modulator on its way that comes with a 2 or 3 month return/replace guarantee. Thinking about it now, I probably should have double checked the electrical connections to the modulator before ordering it. C’est la vie.

As far as the hub leak, I suppose that having no wheel speed sensor fault lowers the chances of the leak being through the bearing housing. Like some posters recommended, though, I can de-grease, monitor, and examine the cutaway diagram in RAVE to tell for sure.

Also: thanks for the axle nut advice and the great pictures of the potential axle tube imperfections. I’ll definitely keep a close watch for something like that when I get around to doing the job.