I was installing some adjustable shocks in my car the other day and noticed that the differential was wet on the bottom side of it. I have never had the rear end cover off and my car only has 25k on it. I do jack it up from the from differential which I have heard isnt the best place to do it, but it was not bending the cover at all back while I did it. It has never left a spot on the ground but there is enough fluid to make me curious as to why its like that?

 

Find out if it's coming from the plate on the back or the pinion from the front.

 

Bad pinion seal?

 

I know mine has a bad pinion seal. It leaks from there, but never looses fluid, just shiny and most all the time. Im took lazy to replace it, itll get redone when I rebuild the rear end.

 

Its not coming from the pinion area, its coming from the cover I can see where the seal is squished out a little bit and its wet. I suppose I could try tightening up the bolts some more, but like I said it has never been apart....

 

worst case, buy new seal and gear lube

 

This happend to me a little while back. I bought the car and the differential was like that at 36k miles. Over a year or so later it began leaking so bad that i was leaving puddles everywhere.

It was either because it had hit something or been jacked up by it... I would just fix it now before it actually becomes a problem.