HELP: Rear diff oil leak

[ENX]

Just took my car out of the garage to find a pool of oil under the rear axle. For the past year it has been dripping slightly but not too much - today is a much larger pool. I can't see exactly where the leak is originating.

Obviously, it needs to be fixed but my question is - is the car safe to drive or will I do damage?

[cactusman]

It will probably either be the differential input shaft oil seal or one of the output shaft seals that has let go...unless the cover gasket has leaked which h is unlikely. If its the input shaft seal it could be driven a short distance so long as you top it up...although it will make a message e may contaminate the brakes. If it is an output shaft oil seal the brake disc will also be awash with oil and you will have no brake on that side...I'd not drive it. Sadly if it is one of said seals the IRS has to come out to change them...bugger...

[ENX]

As I suspected, just when the weather has turned and it's a Bank holiday. I've not had much luck finding a decent garage in NW London - any suggestions?

[Heuer]

Moss Jaguar in Letchworth

[ENX]

Thanks David

[44DHR]

Howard,
Just be aware that even if the Diff Output shaft oil seal is leaking, it might not necessarily make the brake disc have any oil on it, so don’t dismiss this as the source of your leak, just because the brake discs are free of oil.
The Output shaft bearing housing as an escape port cast into it which is extremely difficult to see with the differential in the car. Please see previous topic which shows in my photos where the port is located :-
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11066&p=89942#p89942

In this instance, the escaping oil just trickles out of the escape port and down the diff casing to drip onto the cage lower tie plate before dropping onto the floor.
Regards,
Dave

[chrisfell]

I lived with dripping seals for a few years. The seals had been dry and had become brittle while the car was acquiring its barn find dust. Oil used to contaminate the rear discs. Each MOT I had to clean the oil from the pumpkin and the rotors and hope that the leak would not become obvious during the ten mile drive to the MOT.

Eventually I got fed up with topping the diff up every few hundred miles and took the rear cage out, only to find a catalog of horrors elsewhere in the car’s rear end (a broken shock, pivot bearings worn through their carriers, cage mounts incorrectly installed, clevis pin missing from handbrake....).

New seals all round the diff stopped the leak from contaminating the discs. It still leaks but not so much that I worry about topping up the diff during the summer season. Winter topping up is usually just a dribble of oil.

[ENX]

Everyone

Thanks for the useful advice. On balance I think I will get a professional to look at it before I do some damage! Fiddling with the differential is above my pay grade but within my capacity to break.