W463 G63 Axle leaking grease? any help or normal
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: May 2016
Posts: 416
Likes: 91
G63/RR LWB/W222 S550
The oil is leaking from both sides the left and right side. My friend said it’s wax his does it. I’ve never seen wax that’s black it’s gunky and thick. It’s on both sides.
all I know is that before any of these leaks showed up there was pinion seal leaking for a bit. That was fixed at the dealer last month and still looks like it’s leaking.
The trucks under warranty. I just have to take the spacers off not sure if the tires will rub now since they are a/t tires without the spacers. May have to buy a new set of tires or wheels to get this done what a PITA. Smh
all I know is that before any of these leaks showed up there was pinion seal leaking for a bit. That was fixed at the dealer last month and still looks like it’s leaking.
The trucks under warranty. I just have to take the spacers off not sure if the tires will rub now since they are a/t tires without the spacers. May have to buy a new set of tires or wheels to get this done what a PITA. Smh
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: May 2016
Posts: 416
Likes: 91
G63/RR LWB/W222 S550
It also rained pretty good yesterday. Could the rain be causing it? I think it’s just done tbh.
the other side is totally ok looking
im more worried about the thick sludgy oil that’s leaking from both sides.
the other side is totally ok looking
im more worried about the thick sludgy oil that’s leaking from both sides.
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 1,028
Likes: 133
From: Massachusetts
2018 GLE350, 2014 G550, 2000 SL500, 1980 TR8, 1995 E320 Cabriolet
One side looks fine, but the other side looks like you might have a cracked CV joint boot and/or a bad swipe seal. If you work on the truck yourself, carefully insert a clean dowel (or pencil or whatever) into the grease fill hole on the affected hub. If it comes back with runny black grease on it, the boot is bad. The hub grease has the consistency of Vaseline while the CV joint grease has the consistency of yogurt. When the two mix, you get a runny mess. Homogenized brown grease is likely water getting in.
Replacing the CV boot is a long, messy job. Indeed, if MB does it, they will not replace the boot, they will replace the entire axle assembly (which, as I learned the hard way, can sometimes be best). Done properly, the swipe seal is a bit of a task. Do not let MB use the "split" swipe seals as these will always fail down the road.
Replacing the CV boot is a long, messy job. Indeed, if MB does it, they will not replace the boot, they will replace the entire axle assembly (which, as I learned the hard way, can sometimes be best). Done properly, the swipe seal is a bit of a task. Do not let MB use the "split" swipe seals as these will always fail down the road.
Last edited by Floobydust; Jul 2, 2020 at 06:38 PM.
Super Member
Joined: Jul 2019
Posts: 763
Likes: 313
From: LA
1987 Porsche 911. 2008 G55
if you lived in LA I have 4 tires you can have to put on to take it back to get it serviced. The previous owner had Two different sets on the truck both in great shape. I'm sure the techs wouldn't notice.
Super Member
Joined: Feb 2020
Posts: 848
Likes: 504
From: NJ/NYC
2005 G55K
I'm not an expert at this, but I did just do a deep dive into my 'leaking' swivel hubs.
The first picture looks like a slightly failing swipe seal. Mine looked a little bit worse (more leaking grease).
The second picture looks fine but may be low on grease (mine looked the same and was very low). Make sure when filling to the fill port, cycle the steering lock to lock and refill as needed (remove the grease tube and anything from the fill port when you cycle the steering as it's like a cigar cutter that will slice everything right in half!!!)
One definite way to know that your CV boots haven't failed is to jack up the truck and remove the front wheels. Then with the fill ports opened, you can turn the axle and feel or look at the CV boot and see/feel for any tears.
Last thing to be extra extra sure is to check your diff fluid - if it comes out clean, then there's a good probability that the inner axle seal is fine also.
Degraded swipe seals seem like par for the course on older G's. A full axle job (replacing all the seals and CV boots is expensive - $2-5k) so I'm just going to learn to live with the slow leak for now and keep replacing the grease every 1-2 thousand or so miles, and check the CV boots as described above every oil change.
The first picture looks like a slightly failing swipe seal. Mine looked a little bit worse (more leaking grease).
The second picture looks fine but may be low on grease (mine looked the same and was very low). Make sure when filling to the fill port, cycle the steering lock to lock and refill as needed (remove the grease tube and anything from the fill port when you cycle the steering as it's like a cigar cutter that will slice everything right in half!!!)
One definite way to know that your CV boots haven't failed is to jack up the truck and remove the front wheels. Then with the fill ports opened, you can turn the axle and feel or look at the CV boot and see/feel for any tears.
Last thing to be extra extra sure is to check your diff fluid - if it comes out clean, then there's a good probability that the inner axle seal is fine also.
Degraded swipe seals seem like par for the course on older G's. A full axle job (replacing all the seals and CV boots is expensive - $2-5k) so I'm just going to learn to live with the slow leak for now and keep replacing the grease every 1-2 thousand or so miles, and check the CV boots as described above every oil change.
Last edited by shiann; Aug 18, 2021 at 01:10 AM.
