So it seems from my last track day I've developed a leak in my diff - drivers side drive shaft.


Diff Leak

(Picture is upside down)

Is this a straight case of remove drive shaft, replace seal, job done? Or could there be something underlying more serious that's caused it to blow? If it helps it looks like it's also been blowing oil from the breather pipe, so it's certainly not blocked but what would cause oil to come from the breather if it can happily leak from the side?

[Edited on 5/5/14 by gingerprince]

So, further to the above I'm starting to think it's not the diff, but grease leaking from the CV joint. I removed the offside driveshaft tonight and was faced with this: -


CV

Diff

Looks to me as though the seal is in tact (thought I'll replace it anyway whilst it's apart). Looking at what's there, it does appear to be grease rather than dirty oil. I've cleaned the can, and there's no obvious sign of grease egress though of course it could have been doing it slowly for a while through a tiny gap?

Based on what I see here, do I assume there's enough grease still in there, take a hammer to it to try and re-seal the end of the can and stick it back together (worst case it runs a while and then I need a new CV if grease does happen to be low - certainly don't think it was making any noise), or cut the can off now and replace/repack?

Doesn't explain why I've had oil coming from the breather though. What would cause this? I've not noticed it before (and not topped it up recently). Could it just have been over exuberance? ( I was having particular fun, and a few seconds quicker per lap than last time out ) Is there anything I can do to check the diff out without dismantling it? Is there likely anything that could have gone wrong inside the diff to cause it to throw oil?

Cheers,

Simon

I did think it was a bit thick and emulsified looking to be diff oil.

You should have enough oil in the diff if it is full to the fill plug lower edge.

As far as the driveshaft goes - any bodies guess....