Today I was under my 99 OBW and noticed a little fluid leaking at the rear differential. Seemed to be coming out of the spline seal.

 

Decided to pull the fill plug and check the level of the rear differential oil. Imaginge my suprise when about 12 oz of milky white gear oil came pumping out!!

 

Went ahead and drained and replaced the diff oil.

 

Turns out, the last time I put my boat in the lake I must have backed up to far, allowing the differential to be submerged and water to enter through the vent tube.

 

So if you regulary back your ride into the lake.... you may want to check your differential fluid.

 

Steve

Where is the vent tube. With all these people submerging them in water and mud this should come up more often. Maybe you have a bad seal - since fluid was leaking out in the first place? Maybe I dont know what I am talking about?

Where is the vent tube. With all these people submerging them in water and mud this should come up more often. Maybe you have a bad seal - since fluid was leaking out in the first place? Maybe I dont know what I am talking about?

 

 

The vent tube is on top of the rear differntial, between the differential and the underside of the car.

 

That is a good point about the bad seal, but my mechanical advisor felt that it was leaking because there was excess fluid (water) in the differential that was forcing it out the seal.

 

Like I mentioned, opening the top plug, which is how you check the level resulted in about 12 oz being spewed out. On a 'normal' differential, you should be able to remove the plug and the fluid is right at that level.

 

So the theory is that the leak was caused by excess pressure. I'm driving to Florida tomorrow to watch the shuttle launch, so I will keep an eye on it to see if it leaks, or if the leak has stopped now that the pressure is reduced.

you can always add hose to the vent tube and raise it higher to avoid this happening again

 

nipper