rear axle leak possible?

[the bandit]

I lifted the car today and saw that their was a tint of oil around the rear axle only on top...it wasnt dripping just looked like if some had spilled....is this common?

[hockeyman]

Axle shafts (near the rear drums/rotors) or the pinion shaft where the driveshat meets up?

[the bandit]

Its the rear differential...not sure if its supposed to look like this

[Muttled]

For what it's worth, when I had my car up on jacks at a few places all the mechanics said my seals were leaking on the rear axle. It looks like a PITA to replace the seals, wonder if there's a HOWTO available?

[Dizturbed One]

Check your diff fluid, if it's at the proper level now and is still at the same spot in two weeks, don't worry about it.

Check it again a month later (or first sign of increased leakage or rear end problems of course), and if still no change in levels, put it out of your mind.

If you want to replace the seals I'd suggest buying a used rear end from somewhere and rebuilding that one so you can drop your old and in with the new at the same time. It would stop all the downtime on your car if you run into unexpected problems also.

[96sc]

FWIW ... My 96 had lots of gear lube all around the differential case, so I guess it is a common problem.

[98 3.8]

My differential is leaking around the axle as well. It's not a whole lot, just some gunk built up around the places where the axles meet the differential. I changed the fluid in it recently after at least 10,000 miles without a change and it had quite a bit in there. So make sure it's a real catastrophic leak before you spend a whole lot to fix it. the rear ends on F-bodies commonly leak a little.

[Sunset01SS]

My 96 is at my friend's right now getting the pinion seal replaced. It was leaking pretty bad. I know the pinion seal leak is a common problem with LS1 cars too.