I've been hearing noises from my 2012 IS350 coming from the rear somewhere for a few months now, thought it was the pads and rotors so replaced them but noise is still there. I see there is a slow leak somewhere from the rear diff and around it. Dealership said its a diff leak and need to reseal the gasket for $1500. Someone said the bearings inside might be bad and need a whole new diff so the new gasket wouldn't fix the noise. Any suggestions? I took the best pic I can

Couldn't get a better pic than this since it wasn't raised

 

Drain the oil and look for metal particles. That has been leaking for awhile impossible to tell the source since oil is everywhere.

 

x2 for drop the fluid and watch for glitter. Refill with new fluid, monitor, and save up for a used unit, replacing when it's convenient or your old one forces the issue.

You can also take advantage of the opportunity to put an LSD in there--quite a few members here have documented their process--but that's more than just a simple remove/replace job.

 

Thanks for the info, how much should a used unit cost? Would it be safe to buy one for around $300 from what im gathering online?

 

I'd say so. It's not like there's a high percentage of these failing in general use. You just got the short end of the stick or something happened to yours that made it start leaking...the fact that you're getting symptoms generally means it's too late to "save" what you have, but it can be the basis of a LSD build as I mentioned earlier, so long as the case is undamaged.

 

May want to clarify about the metal in the diff fluid? On a 2012 10 year old car with xxxk miles. There will be some metal normally in the fluid if never changed, even if nothing was wrong with it.