I got to do a bit of an inspection of a relative's Mk2.5 focus on Saturday Friday prior to an MOT next week. (1.6 petrol). I found parts of the driver side axle to be heavily saturated with something wet. I have my own thoughts but I thought I'd throw it out here and see I what you guys make of it, perhaps someone with more experienced eyes will have a more confident idea of what's wrong, and whether its likely to fail the MOT if I can't get it addressed beforehand.

As you can see in the following pictures, the entire intermediate shaft is damp; the transmission seal is dry; the support bearing is wet and mucky; the CV joint and boot adjacent to the bearing look damp; the shaft to the steering knuckle is dry. Everything is dry on the passenger side.

I'm assuming that there's no leak at the transmission seal since although the shaft is wet, the seal is dry. The boots all look intact so I'm not suspecting a leak from them. I'm thinking that the intermediate support bearing may be bad, considering that it seems to be the wettest part, that it's in the middle of all the parts that are damp, and the muck on both sides of it (and the inner side of the lower bracket fastener). I found a suggestion that this bearing may contain oil rather than grease? 🤔

However, in one picture you can see up past the shaft... There are some oil stains high up on the back of the engine under the exhaust manifold, and I also see some parts of the exhaust manifold look wet... So perhaps it could actually be coming from above. The pictures were taken after an hour or so of being parked up on my drive after being driven over to me. Of note, a bit over a year ago, after having the timing belt replaced by a garage, the top of the engine was getting covered in oil. They cleaned it off, I ended up replacing the cam cover gasket. That seemed to solve that problem, there was just the tiniest spot of oil on a paper towel dabbed along the back afterwards. The top side is still clean and oil free. The oil level is half way between min-max and has not been changed for a couple years (☺️), so hasn't been loosing a hug amount. I wish I'd taken a picture from the top to double check for a bad cover leak and otherwise try to figure out the source of the wet manifold.

Unfortunately I don't have easy access to it; MOT is coming up real fast, and runs out shortly afterwards. I'm to be doing any necessary repair work to save money. It could be really helpful if someone could say 'yes, definitely the bearing'.

Wet intermediate shaft, dry transmission seal:

Wet & mucky bearing, damp/saturated looking CV joint and boot, dry half axle:

Looking up past the axle, signs of oil on the aluminium and wet spots on parts of the black-looking portion of exhaust manifold:

Also I'm curious what this shiny black thing will turn out to be (center, towards bottom, between the iron plate and aluminium engine) 🙃, I don't notice this until reviewing the pics. Not there on mine so must be something someone dropped:

A general oil leak is only an MOT fail if it's dripping on the floor during the test.  (Which could pose a danger to other road users)

If it is the bearing, there isn't a fail for leaks, just excessive wear.  I would take that to mean play in the bearing that can be seen or felt.

My personal opinion is that it's engine oil coming from above.  I'm not aware of these bearings being filled with oil.  Although Ford do charge over £100 for the bearing alone, which suggests it may be a little more than a few balls and a smear of lithium grease.

Genuine Ford Kuga Focus Edge Front Drive Shaft Bearing Automatic 1701597 | eBay

(PS - I know it says automatic, but that's the only bearing listed for driveshafts on parts catalogue, same number for many different models)

 

6.1.7. Transmission

You must inspect all:

• prop shafts
• drive shafts
• prop shaft and drive shaft couplings and bearings
• drive chains or belts

Class 3 vehicles do not need to be inspected for this.

Defect	Category
(a) A transmission shaft: (i) securing bolts loose or missing (ii) likely to become detached	Major Dangerous
(b) A transmission shaft bearing: (i) excessively worn (ii) likely to break up	Major Dangerous
(c) A transmission: (i) joint, belt or chain excessively worn (ii) so worn it is likely to fail	Major Dangerous
(d) A transmission shaft flexible coupling: (i) excessively deteriorated (ii) so deteriorated it is likely to fail	Major Dangerous
(e) A transmission shaft bent or badly damaged	Major
(f) A transmission shaft bearing housing: (i) fractured or insecure (ii) likely to fail	Major Dangerous
(g) A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot: (i) severely deteriorated (ii) missing, split or insecure so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt	Minor Major

 

6 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

My personal opinion is that it's engine oil coming from above. 

Okay, thanks. 👍

6 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

I'm not aware of these bearings being filled with oil.  Although Ford do charge over £100 for the bearing alone, which suggests it may be a little more than a few balls and a smear of lithium grease.

I found the notion via google in the discussion here: https://www.focusst.org/threads/drive-shaft-leak.38059/

Crazy price for just a bearing, if I do end up having to replace it I'll be having to look to the ~£14 aftermarket ones.

6 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

If it is the bearing, there isn't a fail for leaks, just excessive wear.  I would take that to mean play in the bearing that can be seen or felt.

Yeah that's how I read it. Honestly I forgot about actually looking at the MOT spec myself until after posting, I was just wondering at the time of writing whether anyone may happen to have actually experienced being failed on such a problem before. I failed to check for actual play in the bearing.