Rear differential leak
 

Hey folks,
I saw oil drips on the garage floor near the rear of the car after my wife backed out of the garage... So I checked under the car and the differential is soaked with reddish/brownish color which seems to be coming from the differential. I read a few threads where people changed the rear diff plug and everything seems fine. Anyone dealt with rear diff leak if yes how did you fix it?

While it's entirely possible that the plug can be your leak....there's also a couple other areas that could be your culprit (namely, shaft seals). Can you pinpoint the source of the leak? Have you tried tightening the plug?

I have this same problem but it looks to be my shaft seal

I will look tonight and see if i can pinpoint where it's coming from. Is there an easy/inexpensive fix for the shaft seals?

Replace seals. You will need a special tool to pull the old seals out. You don't want to mar the seal groove. A bit involving, but not very hard. You can get an inexpensive axle seal removing tool by searching the net.

Sometimes, the half shaft can pop out - especially if you worked on that particular half shaft (ball joints for example). Then you can have a leak. This is an easy fix. You just raise the car and pop the driveshaft back in (a bit of force is required - you need to lever it back in). After that, you need to have the car level and check the fluid level.
I forgot to mention. Before starting on this job, get a can of brake dust removal spray and thoroughly clean the oil stained areas. This will enable you to monitor the repair.

Not a fan of brake cleaner when a mild degreaser will work just fine.

Most brake cleaners have warning labels stating plastic/rubber/adhesive degradation will occur if exposed to their contents.

A few yrs ago an E46Fanatics member posted a thread where he stated that brake cleaner is the best stuff for cleaning roof liners, I responded by informing him that the product attacks rubber, plastic and adhesives, he responded I did not know what I was talking about...........I would bet the farm his roof liner fell down shortly after his cleaning job.

Using the mildest cleaners/degreasers whenever cleaning/detailing a vehicle is an important part of vehicle longevity.

Plus the odor from it is very overwhelming and permeates everything stupid to spray inside of a car.

I am not disagreeing that it could be seals, but, obviously it is important to be sure where the leak is coming from before doing any replacing---as long as you locate the source and address the issue very soon so the differential fluid does not get low enough to damage the diff,--assuming it is from the diff.

I would check the level, top it off if necessary,clean the area, take a short low speed drive, pinpoint the location of the leak--then address the needed repair.

+1. First and foremost, find out where the leak is coming from before speculating on what needs to be replaced or how labor intensive the job is....then report back!