2002 C5 Near Side Drive Shaft Seal Replacement

[muttontop]

Hi all, wonder if someone can help.  I'm replacing the passenger side drive shaft on my 2.0 litre HDI C5.  I've removed the old drive shaft but now want to remove/replace the oil seal.  Looking at the seal it appears to be held in place by a small casting held by 4 bolts . I've removed these bolts but the casting (which I believe incorporates the oil seal) will not come off.  It rotates slightly when pressure is applied underneath the casting but doesn't come loose (see attached picture).  Anybody any ideas as at present I'm a little stumped.

Thanks

[muttontop]

After speaking with the Service Department of my local Citroen dealer I was informed that "once the 4 bolts were removed it was just a matter of prising the casting away from the gearbox housing although it may be held in place by sealing mastic.  No special tools are required it's just a matter of finding a tool that will do it".  I used a large flat blade screwdriver from underneath the car, you can just see the edge of the casting from there.  It is tight but it can be done.

I've attached a photo of the rear of the casting for any one else who might be interested.  Not sure whether or not the oil seal can be replaced in the casting (it appears that you would need to insert the seal in the opposite way to which you would normaly insert an oil seal (ie the surface you would normaly apply pressure to with a drift or socket faces into the casting meaning you would have to apply pressure to the sealing side of the seal)).  I purchased a complete replacement casting with seal (citroen part number 300934) instead of trying to replace the seal.

Hope this information is useful to others replacing an off side drive shaft oil seal.

Edited June 2, 2015 by muttontop

[Johndouglas]

Many thanks for telling us about your problem and solution. It should be useful to other readers. So that your posting doesn't disappear, I've moved it to the Technical section. So that it may help others, how about writing a brief description on the whole job?