Guys,

I saw the dreaded stain on the driveway as I pulled my 2000 SE out to go out yesterday. I touched the stain and it appeared to be a clear-ish oily substance under where the transmission (manual in my case) is. I think it is a gear oil leak. Where are the most common places a leak would occur?

What is the severity of the issue and would it be something expensive to fix?

Please let me know. I used to live in hot, dry Arizona and moved here to the east coast where there is large temperature drops WRT engine oil temp. Maybe a gasket failed?

 

i have a similar issue. im pretty sure the problem with mine is the seal on the shaft for the tranny. in order to change it you have to drop the tranny. so im keeping an eye on the level and wating to change out the clutch too....if you get a chance look underneath and see where its coming from!!

 

there are three major places it would leak. at the two places where the cv axles go into the transmission (diff seals) and where the engine hooks into the transmission.

I have a small leak from my drivers side diff seal. I have tried swapping out the seal with no luck. the most common cause of this leak is a bad diff bearing. I dont know if mine is bad or not but from changing my seal last time i know there is enough room to fit two seals in there, i am going to try this in the spring to see if it does anything. I have no motivation to do a tranny rebuild or swap

I have a piece of wood down in my garage and although it seems like i am losing a lot of oil by the spot i leave i only lose about half a quart in between oil changes (5000 miles) and i top it off then.

 

There are three transmission main seals: input shaft (clutch rides on this) and output shafts (axles, described above as diff seals). I had an output shaft seal replaced and the leak has not recurred (~1 year). You need to get under the car and check as different seals require very different levels of effort to replace.

 

Anybody know where I can find the diagram for the transmission assembly so I can figure out what the part numbers are?

I'm getting under the car tonight but it looks like the leak is more localized under the driver side of the car. Would this typically indicate a driver side output shaft leak? I just got my control arms replaced 6 months ago due to my CV boots being blown out. Do you think this might have something to do with it?

 

Sorry, make that my drive axle's got replaced, not the control arms.

 

i would put my money on the drive side diff seal being bad. It is supposed to be changed when you change the axle.

I did a writeup a long time ago on how to replace it. I am at work or i would find it for you but i bet you can find it somewhere around here

 

http://nissan4u.com/

 

Anybody know where I can find the repair procedure for a differential seal replacement?

 

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/

Simplified version:
-remove stuff to remove axle
-remove axle
-remove seal
-install in reverse order