Front left differential seal leaks

[Doogle]

I know this seal leaking problem has been beat to death. I haven't had the privilege to replace mine yet. Warranty did it once. I don't know what the bearing placement looks like or if there is a bleed back for oil on the outside of the bearing. My thought for a possible cure-Why not put a sealed bearing in? The existing seal could still block most dirt and water from entering from outside. Without oil on the lip seal meniscus, it might wear. But it would still do it's job. Has anyone tried this yet? If my next seal failure isn't covered by same problem after warranty repair, I will try it.

 

[Udaman]

I found mine starting to leak at about 200 miles. It wasn't slinging oil but was more of a build up with an occasional drip directly underneath the left front seal. I had it replaced under warranty and it started leaking again 300 miles later in the same manner. I've found the problem on mine has been more with leakage around the outer part of the seal where it's pressed into the diff housing. When I replaced it I used a light coat of ultra grey permatex on the outside of the seal and it hasn't leaked since. I recently pulled my front diff out to install a torq locker kit and one thing I noticed is the left seal bore had a dull aluminum finish and the passenger side seal bore had a machined finish. Makes me wonder about the diff housing manufacturing process.

 

[Doogle]

I've not seen the bores yet. It is possible the warranty worker did something different also. I would think the coating they put on the seal OD would seal good as long as the interference fit is right. Did you mic the bores? After 3 years of problems, I still think Honda knows what the problem is and it is just cheaper to replace seals. Customers suffer with loss of riding time and constant trips to the shop. A friend took his in yesterday for the 4th seal replacement. I think he has about 2500 miles total.