Leaking Differential

[wg8221]

Took my wife's 2007 E70 X5 in for its first service on Friday. (Did have an oil change at 7500 miles) Technician found that the front differential was leaking. They have had a couple of cases where the differential was leaking and went undetected until the vehicle broke down on the highway with a locked up differential. Might want to take a quick look at yours to see if you have a problem.

I never had any oil on the garage floor yet the level was down significantly.

[drod]

wow...

does this alert show up when you hit the "check all systems" button??

i'm not sure what to look for...especially if you don't notice an oil leak below...

[wg8221]

Originally Posted by drod

wow...

does this alert show up when you hit the "check all systems" button??

i'm not sure what to look for...especially if you don't notice an oil leak below...

There's no indicator anywhere. The only way to check I know of is to climb under the vehicle and see if there's any oil on the differential case. Best alternative would be to ask your service advisor to check it when you take it in for any service. If they put it on a lift they can easily tell if there's a problem.

[Slalom]

Mine is going in tomorrow - faulty seal on the differential. Not very happy - want to quiz the tech about how "dry" it was - may ask for new diff.

[wg8221]

Originally Posted by Slalom

Mine is going in tomorrow - faulty seal on the differential. Not very happy - want to quiz the tech about how "dry" it was - may ask for new diff.

They ended up replacing my front diff and of course that required a four wheel alignment all covered under warranty. The actual leak was at the seam.

[95wildtt]

Sorry, VERY old thread...
Looks like I have a leak at the seam on my front diff now.
Found it while having the oil cooler/alternator bracket leak fixed.