Ive had a small puddle of oil developing under my car over the past few months. It was nothing huge so I didnt really make it a priority.
Well I got under the car today and took some pics. Does that look like an abnormal amount of oil on the tranny?
If its not the tranny thats leaking what do you think it could be?
Thanks!

Diff. Carrier Bearings are going. Grab the inner peice of your drivers side axle and see if there play side to side and up and down. You getting any "whinning" in any gears ??

-matt

Matt you think it's the diff? I just changed mine and it didn't look like that. Plus that does not look like tranny oil. More like Motor oil cause it's so dark and dirty. Many be the oil pan leaking, but of course it can also be the diff seal like Matt said.

It looks so dirty beacuse its picking up dirt on the road as he drives. If you look at the second pic, that to me looks like gear oil, and thats the drivers side in the picture right where it would be leaking down onto the lower part. My old tranny had really bad diff bearings and looked just like that.

Do a bit more investigating and see if you can see above the trans to see if anythings leaking. Very unlikely.

-matt

Yeah I believe Matt is correct. Change your seals they'll come out around 30 bucks for both of them. If you need the part number just let me know. Matter of fact I still have the driver side diff. seal so i can get you the part number (i only replaced the pass side)

My mechanic used one of those mirrors that dentists use to check those seals. It's very hard to actually locate that leak.

I cant hear any "whining" due to my exaust, but if I understand you correctly I can tell by the play?
I'll check it out soon, I dont have any more free time till sometime next week

Is there anything else I should check out?

Thanks

Clean everything and check for leaks very often.
Jae

Yup!! Every time my car was on the lift i sprayed carb cleaner and used compressed air to clean everything. This way it'll be somewhat more detectable.

+1. That's what i was gonna suggest.

Clean everything and take it for a drive. Or just grab the axle and look for even the tiniest amount of wiggle.

Your tranny oil can look that black if it's not been changed for a while. But it won't smell like engine oil, that's usually how I tell the difference.

That oil is in the exact place you'll get it when it's leaking at the diff seals. Since the seals rarely go, I would assume the bearings are done.

+1 to everyone that said clean it and check again. That is the only proper way of diagnoising a leak.

I agree with the smell thing. Tranny fluid leaking out smells horrible. Brings a tear to my eyes everytime I come to a stop and get a whiff of that... hopefully I will get this taken care of next weekend...

If your car isn't too low, you can goto a self-serve car wash place w/high pressure wash. Spray from the underside. Then by the time you get home, you'll be able to spot the leak.
Jae

Yeah but doing that might also damage alot more. Best thing to do it get it up on a lift and spray some carb cleaner and compressed air. I've done that multiple times to locate my leak.

Looks like leaking from the axle seals, most likely caused by a bad bearing or bearings on the differential like the others said.

Whoops, my bad, forgot it's high pressure stuff. Does carb cleaner eat the rubber seal?
Jae

rear crankshaft seal.

considering it's coming from the axle area and not the bell housing area (which is where the rear main seal is), i'm going to have to go with "not a chance" for $2000, alex.

yeah there's a drain hole at the bottom of the bell where the crankshaft oil would seep from.
Jae

You know i had my rear seal leaking so i changed that...and i noticed that it's leaking from the hole your talking about once again. What else can it be in there? I'm thinking oil pan/or the bolts for it. Dont mean to jack the thread but this is a problem i can't figure out. I've replaced every single seal beside the driver side differential seal.

Oil coming from in between the trans bell housing and engine could be coming from the rear main seal (crankshaft seal), the transmission input shaft seal, or a leak in the sealant between the upper oil pan and the engine block. the first two are common, the last one is unlikely but it could happen. Or you could have a crack in your upper oil pan, or bell housing, but that's pretty unlikely as well.