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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Diff oil leak

While under the car looking at the fuel leak it reminded me of the diff oil leak I have. Its very slow and does not drip however the diff is quite covered in oil now as the pic. Looks like the front pinion seal to me. As its so slow I was ignoring it for a while.

I seem to remember all my moggies and marinas had oil on the dif from the seal or breather and I never topped them up. Most of them I did over 50000 miles in and some 100000 before disposal.

Any advice appreciated.

Its not dripping.
Its as quiet as when I started driving it 11600 miles ago.
There is no smell.

Dave Squire

Advice..

Check/change the oil, unless you fancy replacing the seal.

It is do-able in-situ, but can be a bit tricky.
Dave O'Neill 2

Its better then having to replace the diff because it rusted out
Prop and the Blackhole Midget

While you are under there its worth cleaning off the breather - its amazing how much muck can accumulate on them and block them - the top usually just pulls off.
richard boobier

Give it a really good clean and a coat of paint and you'll be able to see where the leak is coming from. It probably is the oil seal but it's amazing how a small leak will spread through road dirt so you might be lucky if it's just the paper gasket.
Nick Nakorn

Clean breather, check oil level every now and then. Enjoy the rust prevention a slow oil coating provides to your axle (and to the underside of the car too probably).
If it starts to really drip out, you can easily yank the diff and do the seal and check the sun/planet thrust washers etc while you're at it.
A job for the future.
Roadwarrior

This thread was discussed between 08/04/2015 and 09/04/2015

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