Feedback on leaking differential seals & rear driveshaft boot? - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

bruceholmes · 13th July 2006, 02:47

I have an 03 M5 with about 50,000 miles on it just ready to go out of warranty. About 15,000 miles ago I brought the attention of the dealer that there was it a significant amount of lubricant seeping from the differential seals where the drive shafts come out. The dealers said this was normal. The guy who replaces my tires however said that any lubricant leak is not normal except maybe to the extent that you can see a minor amount of "moisture" at the area of the seals. Now there's enough lubricant leakage so as to splash the lubricant onto the exhaust piping such that when you stop the car you can smell oil burning. The same appears to be happening from the boot around the drive shaft CV joint just ahead of the differential housing. I took my car to the dealer again and he said that this is normal.
My first question is.... is this normal? or am I going to be having an expensive repair as soon as my warranty has expired?
right after the cars out of warranty

EM5PWR · 13th July 2006, 02:54

it's a common problem yes.. get it fixed though..if it's slinging on the exhaust it's more than moisture.. IMO . as far as the cv leaking grease that's not good.. get both fixed soon..

imolaman · 13th July 2006, 21:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by bruceholmes

The dealers said this was normal.

BS!

Get it fixed ASAP or face some hefty bills later as it will probably become worse. It is definitely not normal mate.

Cheers,

R

Xcargo · 13th July 2006, 22:46

My 2003 with just over 50K miles has had this exact same problem fixed TWICE under warranty. It is a problem and not normal. Get it fixed under warranty. Pay the $1500 and get the CPO coverage as well if you plan on keeping the car!

Lscman · 15th July 2006, 18:27

Your dealer is likely wrong, cheap while your tire guy is honest, perceptive and helpful. The amount of fluid leakage you describe (enough to splash or fling around) is not normal and they are trying to weasel out. It may, in fact be normal to the extent that M5's fail seals often. That is described above. Your dealer is trying to nurse owner's cars with leaking seals to the end of their warranty cycles. This tells me somebody is too cozy with BMW corporate at your dealership & trying to save them warranty $. I would not be surprised if their year-end salary bonus is tied to warranty denial rate.

This leaking seal trouble will become much worse in time.

Once oil leakout rate increases, the chance of having a low oil level condition inside your differential becomes a big concern. At that point, BMW will blame low oil on you and they may not cover it under warranty!!! They are really clever at blaming the user and not the hardware.

It only takes a couple miles of cruising with low oil in the differential to cause the hypoid carrier assembly to fail. To be clear, this is a $5K repair, not a $500 seal replacement job.

giterdone

ard · 15th July 2006, 18:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lscman

Your dealer is likely wrong, cheap while your tire guy is honest, perceptive and helpful. The amount of fluid leakage you describe (enough to splash or fling around) is not normal and they are trying to weasel out. It may, in fact be normal to the extent that M5's fail seals often. That is described above.

This leaking seal trouble will become much worse in time.

Once oil leakout rate increases, the chance of having a low oil level condition inside your differential becomes a big concern. At that point, BMW will blame low oil on you and they may not cover it under warranty!!! They are really clever at blaming the user and not the hardware.

It only takes a couple miles of cruising with low oil in the differential to cause the hypoid carrier assembly to fail. To be clear, this is a $5K repair, not a $500 seal replacement job.

giterdone

Agreed. Period.

Mine was fixed twice under warranty. (Isn't THAT a major annoyance.)

Perhaps the larger lesson is in the first sentence of Lscman's post: you have a dealer you cannot trust! What else is he lying to you about?

max95se · 15th July 2006, 21:49

Just had my seals in diff fixed under cpo last week.. no more leaks now.
i would try a different dealer....

DejaVu · 5th August 2006, 18:00

Hi!

I have the same problem (leaking seal from the differential).
Noticed it 3 months ago (oil on the differential). Was not sure it was a leak.
When I drove the car to service, I and the mechanic saw the oil leak from the differential.
Right now, there is no noise from the rear axle.
What kind of oil is used for the differential? Refill oil? Time to change the sealing? Must remove the exhaust system to repair?
How many seals are there in the rear axle, need to change more then one?
Of course I will repair the damage in time hopefully

All answers are apreciated.

Tips from eHow Users:
DIFFERENTIAL OIL LEVEL CHECK by justin smith
SOME DIFFERENTIAL'S MAY HAVE A RUBBER STOPPER INSTEAD OF A NUT. THIS CAN BE REMOVED BY A GOOD SET OF PLYERS. CHECK WHICH TYPE OF DIFFERENTIAL YOU HAVE BY THE TAGS ON THE COVER, SOME REQUIRE SPECIAL OIL SUCH AS A LIMITED SLIP DIFFERENTIAL WILL REQUIRE A DIFFERENT OIL THAN THE REST. IF YOU ARE NOT SURE CHECK YOUR OWNER'S MANUAL OR GO TO YOUR DEALER.