Shinick

I noticed that there were drips of oil on the ground around 3 days ago. It seems that they come from the car's rear differential. Now 3 days have passed and it seems to have stopped leaking. Do I need to do something to my rear diff? Can overfilling the car's diff cause diff fluid to drip?

BCT

Any leak is not going to magically stop by itself. It will stop leaking when it ran out of whatever fluid that it is leaking. imho I would get that looked at asap to make sure you are not running anything with low fluid (or worse, dry). Anything that break because it ran out of fluid, it will be very expensive to fixed.

Shinick

Thanks for your reply! I will definitely have it checked.

Shinick

Just learned that diff fluid has a very bad smell like rotten egg, but the fluid stain on the ground has no smell at all. I tried to sense any bad smell with my nose but could not smell anything. If it is not diff fluid, what could it be? Brake fluid?

razvy

Not all gear oil smell the same , I just change mine whit Red Line and never notice that sulfur smell .

Bsavage

Does anyone else park in that spot when you're not there? If you reverse into that spot you would have to go all the way back to line the diff and the oil spots in the picture seems like its from the engine tho

Jabberwock

Get a 2x2 foot nice clean piece of cardboard (from a box) and put it directly under your diff when you park. If it is leaking, the fluid drips will show on the cardboard.

razvy

And if it's empty ? ...What you see ? ...a empty wallet ..

ls430w140

Check the gasket of the drain plug on the side of the differential. See if there is any tiny visual oil residue left in this area.

ls430w140

Could you also confirm that these drops are not gasoline?

Jabberwock

I made an assumption that the OP just noticed the leak via stain in regular parking spot. My car is garage kept every night at my home, my garage floor is clean, so I would immediately notice any fluid (other than normal AC condensate) dripping from the car. I understand not everyone has same situation.

If the leak has been unnoticed for months or years the diff could be low on fluid or might be empty (although it most likely would be noisy if empty).

In any case my suggestion was an effort to help identify the source of the fluid rather than if there is a leak which seems pretty obvious. Regardless of source, the part(s) leaking need to be determined/diagnosed and repaired.

BCT

I agree. The picture shows a concrete barrier for tires that usually installed at parking places, and a yellow paint is also usually seen at parking places. I have not seen personal garage that has these two. So the leak might be coming from other car that is parked there. Putting a cardboard/large paper is a good first step to figure out the general location of the leak if one do not want to crawl around under the car, or getting the car on a lift.

warminwisc

Did ya ever change Dif fluid, its a good idea anyway every 75k or so? I think the plug is easy to remove and put like a bent coat hanger in there to see if there is fluid. Good luck

gebo

It would appear you have 2 different leaks. See how they sorta align up? So you back into your parking space? Mine will leak awhile after I change it.

How does the floor look where you park at home? Do what Jabberwock says with the cardboard.