My TJ had leaking pinion seals at 7,000 miles, in stock configuration. That
tells me that quality-control at Dana wasn't what it should be, and it was
either a faulty seal or it wasn't assembled properly; fixed under warranty.
My old 93 Grand leaked fron the rear diff cover at 10,000 miles. Wife's '04
is starting to get wet at the pinion seals and front diff cover at 31,000
miles, but this is after a lift, so I doubt the warranty will be honored,
but to be honest I have not checked. I need to change the gears anyway so I
won't worry about it until then.

Matt

"Mike Romain" > wrote in message
...
> Pinion seals just don't up and leak normally, especially at those low a
> miles. Something has to cause the seal failure. That 'usually' means
> you have an out of balance vibrating driveshaft. This is usually due to
> a dead u-joint.
>
> If the u-joint vibrates long enough it will also take out the pinion
> bearing which then allows play for the seal to leak.
>
> Just replacing the seal for $160.00 will do nothing except line the
> pockets of some $tealership. The cause of the failure needs to be
> addressed.
>
> $145.00 to pour some cleaner down the intake???? I personally learned
> to use a pint of ATF 'slowly' poured in the intake while keeping the
> engine running by hand to clean all the carbon out of the combustion
> chamber. It makes them clean as new. Others have posted good success
> by just pouring a pint of water slowly down the same way to shock the
> carbon off. The way I learned makes a 'massive' cloud of smoke, the
> water way doesn't.
>
> Costs less then five bucks....
>
> Also worth mentioning is on the older Cherokees, there is an idiot light
> timer that goes off around 80K miles to 'remind' you it is time to spend
> money at the $tealership. They will usually want to change the O2
> sensor and anything else they can sucker you for before charging you an
> extra $80.00 or so just to reset the timer so it can go off in another
> 80K miles again.
>
> At least on the old Cherokee, we could just unplug the sucker....
>
> Mike
> 86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
> 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
> Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view!
> Jan/06 http://www.imagestation.com/album/pi...?id=2115147590
> (More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)
>
> wrote:
>>
>> Last week, the service engine light was on. I went to Jeep and they
>> said "front pinion seal leaking" and "recommends BG induction service".
>>
>> This happened when I put the AC on and the Jeep just stopped. I had to
>> turn the ignition on again.
>>
>> is "front pinion seal leaking" for $160.00 and
>> "recommends BG induction service" $145.00
>> normal for Jeep Sport Cherokke 2000 with 79,500 miles on it?
>>
>> Thanks
>> Mike