So I noticed quite a grease leak. I've never had to deal with the drive shafts on my self built Robin hood or my previous Xtreme and now the v8 xtreme and thus have no experience.

Leaky side:



good ish side:



slight diff oil leak:





overflow when I undid the diff oil bolt:




So all the rubber boots on the drive shafts seem fine, there was a little drop of clear(ish) oil under the diff, possibly coming from the fill bolt. (Sierra diff) got the car level and undid the bolt, a load of black oil came out before it started getting cleaner and less black. Clearly the level was too high as the book says it should he less than the bolt. Could that explain the grease leak? , or should I be looking at taking the drive shaft out and changing the oil seals in the diff? or is this the situation where you take the drive shaft to the ford garage and ask them to do it, as it needs some sort of cone thingy etc.. There is also a pic of the other side, which is a little bit oily.

Any thoughts please?

cheers guys.

That looks like CV grease rather than diff oil. It's getting past the O-ring inside the "bean can" cover. Possibly due to over packing the grease or a damaged O ring or badly crimped over can.

Also check the breather at the top of the diff is clear, and not blocked.
As that can cause the seals to leak.

It might be just the picture, but looks like your rear cover is cracked to the right of filler plug as you look at pics?

Ok, so perhaps 2 issues, 1 the diff oil and 2 the CV grease.

I'll check the breather and other than that I think I'll leave it re the diff oil.

The CV grease coming out of the bean can, if I take the drive shaft out will I be able to inspect it to if the o ring has failed, or is it all hidden?

Thanks

Clean off all signs of grease and oil perhaps change the diff oil for fresh ,you will have to suck the oil out or maybe use some windscreen washer hose and syphon the oil . Use the car and monitor any leaks. The amount of mileage our cars tend to do in a year plus the difficulty of getting hold of the drive shaft cans I wouldn't consider that seepage to be urgent, if it gets worse then sort it out

good answer !

I used to do about 6k miles a year before the kids turned up!, now, less than 2.

I'll clean it up, leave it and keep an eye.

thanks for all the input.

quote:

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Originally posted by rusty nuts
Clean off all signs of grease and oil perhaps change the diff oil for fresh ,you will have to suck the oil out or maybe use some windscreen washer hose and syphon the oil . Use the car and monitor any leaks. The amount of mileage our cars tend to do in a year plus the difficulty of getting hold of the drive shaft cans I wouldn't consider that seepage to be urgent, if it gets worse then sort it out

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Hi I agree with Chris-extreme thats CV grease from the "bean can" cover it also has a thin rubber O ring inside and the can often gets distorted.
Mike