i just realized that my rear differential is leaking. i notcied a sound humming/very light but quick grindingnoisewhen in gearearlier last week.

im going to drain and add new oil to in the next 2 days. could there be any bad damage to my diff?

 

You could have bearing or ring gear and pinion damage. It just depends on how low the oil is and how long it's been that low. It doesn't take much run time with no oil to damage the rear.

 

With diffs on our cars, 9 times out of 10 if you hear something coming from it, then you probably already damaged something. Overheating is a killer, like contentsunderpressur said,so hopefully it hasn't been running without all of its fluid for too long. My rear end starting making a little noise a while back. I checked it that weekend, the pinion bearing was shot and the sprider assembly has some nicks and burrs in it. Worse case scenario, it will give you an excuse to do a gear swap. Good luck.

 

you know what this means, time to fix it bigger better stonger!