Gear oil leaking out of everything - on the road looking for a fix

[Lurch]

Here's the deal - went through some deep water in Moab, had no leak problems after 3 hours of highway driving around Moab. I topped off the rear diff with oil before leaving Moab because one of the axle seals is leaking and I wanted to make sure it was full.

I drove from Moab to the Grand Canyon and gear oil had leaked of everyplace possible - both seals, the tubes where they connect to the housing, breather, cover, etc. I checked the breather and its not clogged. Topped off the oil again because a ton had leaked out and the same thing happened on the Grand Canyon to Tucson leg. I'm here in Tucson for a few days but I would like to figure out what's going on before I drive back to LA towing a small trailer.

Is the water crossing the cause of this? Drain and refill?

XJ Dana 44, Grizzly locker, stock breather location.

 

[ParadiseXJ]

Short of replacing seals...if you're going to be in one place for awhile why don't you pull the diff cover, check the condition of your gears and gear oil, clear out your vent and put it all back together and fill 'er up with fresh oil. You may be blowing lube past the seals with water in there or a clogged vent tube.

It would be a whole lot easier & cheaper than replacing an axle.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

Just to be clear: was the level low when you topped it off? or did you purposley over fill it? Also, if you can use your air compressor to shoot air through the vent tube to be 100% sure its not clogged. My first guess is you overfilled the thing and had water in it, maybe that combo blew out the seals or is leaking past the seals. Id second popping the cover( and blowing out vent again) in a autozone parking lot and changing the fluid to see whats going on.

 

[Lurch]

Just to be clear: was the level low when you topped it off? or did you purposley over fill it?

It was a little low, so I topped it off to just below the fill plug of my RuffStuff diff cover. This is where I normally fill it to and not had problems like this before.

I'll drain and inspect when I get the chance.

 

[Flyfisher]

Depending on how deep the water was, the stock breather tube location isn't that high for the rear axle. I took water into the rear axle once crossing a river that was about 30-36" deep. If your axle seals were leaking before the water encounter, you likely pushed some water into the axle as well, especially if the breather was blocked (water cools warm axle, air inside contracts creating suction, water sucked past seals if breather is blocked).

I agree with previous comments, take a little time and drain, inspect, clear breather, and re-fill to proper level. Then watch it to see if it continues to leak.

 

[GrimmJeeper]

it shouldn't be leaking around where the tubes go into the housing, that's not a good sign that means the tubes shifted and broke their seal with the center section. also i don't know 100% on the ruffstuff cover but just about all aftermarket covers have the fill plug up too high, so when you fill it you have to go by how much it's supposed to have in it, not fill it to the plug. you could be overfilling the crap out of it.

 

[sidewaysstarion]

The water he went through was deep enough that he had water in his hatch area and in his tail lights.