Good day to all,

I just bought myself a Mazda CX7, MY 2011 with the 2.2 liter diesel engine.

The previous owner informed me that there was a little leak around the rear left seal on the differential. Said and done, I bought a new seal, and as I was swapping the seal, I noticed a little anomaly inside the differential casing. There is a little piece missing inside, as if it has been cracked off.

Note: the CV axle was really stuck in there and difficult to remove, although I did it in the garage and not on a lift, so the working conditions were not great. Using the standard method of taking a pry bar and prying the axle out from differential didn't work. Next step was to pry and tap with a sledge hammer at the same time. No success. 3rd attempt was with a custom made pair of pipe clamps, connected with two M8 threaded rods that were ~4 feet long that i attached a metal profile to so that I could strike the plate with the sledge hammer, and the force of the blow translated via the threaded rods/ pipe clamps resulting in an outward movement of the axle from the differential. That worked like a charm. 2-3 moderate blows and the axle was out from the differential.


Back to the piece missing inside the differential: is this something you have seen? Have any of you had issues with your differentials? Do you think the failed attempts of removing the CV axle resulted in the piece chipped off inside?

I did this today and have not taken it for a test drive yet, so I can't say if there any irregular noises or phenomenon coming from the rear differential.

Below some photos.

Thanks and appreciate any tips or hints,

Paul

The tip of the screw driver is in the hole now.

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

Thanks Callisto.