First issue after 39K miles (Green fluid leak, drive unit?)

[shamoo]

Wife noticed some green/slightly oily fluid on the garage floor near rear of the vehicle when I drove out. Looked underneath and the rear panel was all wet.

Forum posts say it could be fluid from the drive unit, in which case Rivian replaces the whole thing since it is a sealed unit. Friend who works at Rivian says I shouldn't drive and I risk further damage or it going into limp/turtle mode. Guess I'm lucky since I just drove a few hundred miles a few days ago.

Brought it in for service today and have a loaner R1T. Glad it is under warranty. Let's see what happens! Apparently the drive unit (along with the battery) on the early quads has an 8 year/175K mile warranty. Thought it was battery only. Good news I suppose.

Anyone else experience the same?

Was green, felt oily, and I couldn't smell anything. But my sense of smell is also terrible.

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[SwampNut]

Blinker fluid. Rivian uses a special DOT Q.7 version, but you can just run this.

 

[shamoo]

Blinker fluid. Rivian uses a special DOT Q.7 version, but you can just run this.

Hm, since it was coming from the rear, I thought it would be the muffler bearings going out.

 

[SwampNut]

I thought it would be the muffler bearings going out.

Hey dummy, Rivian uses modern ceramic muffler bearings, no grease. Sheesh.

 

[forestwalker]

green in small amounts is usually PAG oil from refrigerant system, not sure what color coolant these have in them...

 

[shamoo]

green in small amounts is usually PAG oil from refrigerant system, not sure what color coolant these have in them...

That's usually from front area, right?

If you look at the wet marks on the panels, every one I see online is related to some drive unit thing.

 

[forestwalker]

That's usually from front area, right?

If you look at the wet marks on the panels, every one I see online is related to some drive unit thing.

Yeah, wherever the compressor/condenser/expansion valve etc are located. If leak is near rear, I would guess coolant from drive system, yeah...

 

[shamoo]

Update:

Service got back to me via app text saying, "We found the seal of the drive unit needing to be replaced and a module too. We also replaced the hubs and half shafts as well. We are aiming to have your vehicle service complete by tomorrow before end of day."

The half shaft thing was new since they found it separately. "Upon inspection, found grease leaking from both front half shaft and a leak at the passenger side front output shaft seal. Also found the driver rear half shaft is leaking grease, requires replacement."

So I suppose not a drive unit replacement, but something about a module that was.

 

[Riviot]

Wife noticed some green/slightly oily fluid on the garage floor near rear of the vehicle when I drove out. Looked underneath and the rear panel was all wet.

Forum posts say it could be fluid from the drive unit, in which case Rivian replaces the whole thing since it is a sealed unit. Friend who works at Rivian says I shouldn't drive and I risk further damage or it going into limp/turtle mode. Guess I'm lucky since I just drove a few hundred miles a few days ago.

Brought it in for service today and have a loaner R1T. Glad it is under warranty. Let's see what happens! Apparently the drive unit (along with the battery) on the early quads has an 8 year/175K mile warranty. Thought it was battery only. Good news I suppose.

Anyone else experience the same?

Was green, felt oily, and I couldn't smell anything. But my sense of smell is also terrible.

Did it taste green?

 

[TollKeeper]

Did it taste green?

What does that taste like?

 

[SwampNut]

What does that taste like?

Slightly less red-tasting than the purple taste. But more savory.

 

[shamoo]

Update:

Got the car back yesterday. I suppose the half shaft issue has been there a while. I've always noticed a very faint click in certain conditions (backing into the garage slowly and going over the concrete threshold) on both front sides.

Now it is gone and everything feels "tighter".

I asked how much I would expect to pay if this was NOT covered under warranty but they were not able to give me any estimates other than "probably a few thousand."

I did notice the rear plastic trim/cover is still oily stained like my first pic above. They didn't replace or try to clean it.

 

[SwampNut]

They used to have you approve an estimate that had the retail prices on it; is that no longer true?

 

[shamoo]

They used to have you approve an estimate that had the retail prices on it; is that no longer true?

Yep, I remember that. This time I had to approve the work, but there was no pricing.

 

[SwampNut]

I just had a warranty fix, and saw that also. I suppose too many people complained that they were being asked to sign for thousands in repairs that should be warranty.

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