Rear Diff Leak?

I have almost 20k miles, and was surprised to see signs of leaking from the rear diff so soon. Is this normal? Should I address this at the 20k service coming up?

 

Yes, definitely have it checked. A diff shouldn't leak. Especially after only 20k miles. Is it possible it's something that dripped from above? I notice that there's a kitty footprint, could it be that your diff has been "marked"?

 

lol yeah i somehow want to find a way to blame the cat. but these spots are pretty much all the way around the circumference of the diff and they're greasy. thanks for the advice. I'll def discuss with the service tech.

 

My thought exactly! Lol

 

@RussellVaughan did you ever get this sorted out?

 

There have been a couple threads on this (some on TundraTalk) but I believe consensus was trucks in hot environments or used for towing/hauling/off-road have a better chance of weeping than the rest. Mine showed signs of weeping the first 30k miles. I cleaned it with brake clean and torqued the bolts when I changed the diff fluid (75-90 severe gear) and it has stayed dry since then. Some people had their seeping diff re-sealed with RTV but I didn’t feel that was necessary.

 

yeah I sure did. But going thru warranty made it pretty tedious. Dealer first hit it with brake cleaner. That didn’t work. Next trip to the dealer they re torqued the bolts. That didn’t work. Finally on 3rd trip they replaced the seal. Its been dry ever since. About to hit 100k.

 

I need to get under there sometime today and see if those spots are even greasy. I'm not sure what else it would be. If it is seeping, I'll torque all those bolts to spec and see if that solves it. Thanks guys!

 

I blasted mine with fluid film so I’ll never know LOL. I don’t think I would sweat it though, as Adam said above, there are quite a few threads on that around here. While I agree it should not seep at all, I also would probably leave it alone if it’s that minimal. It would only be a problem for me if it was effecting the level of the fluid. I prefer to keep the dealers paws off of my truck if possible.

 

Look at that animal print on top of your differential. I think I’d be more concerned with that fucker LOL