Leaking VLSD

[aesic]

I finally got my VLSD in at 1am last night and drove it around a bit. When I came out to the car this morning I found some drops of oil on the ground. Not too much, but enough to be noticable. The oil definately smelled like gear oil. There was also some oil on the gas tank. I'm assuming the VLSD is leaking.

When I drained the pumpkin it had less than a liter of oil in it. It could be that the previous owner drained it most of the way but not all the way or that there is a leak in the seal or cracks in the casing (more likely). Another thing I noticed was that when we were torquing the bolts that attached the back diff cover to the car, the bolts wouldn't tighten all the way (broken diff cover?). We used a torque wrench and we could only get it to 40-50lbs/ft and then it just never got tighter than that. It kept spinning, but not any tighter.

Any ideas on ways to assess the situation better? I really hope its the seal and not a broken diff cover cause then I could just seal it from under the car. If its a broken diff cover, I get to do the whole disassemble/reassemle thing over again. Hopefully the USDM case fits the JDM VLSD case (didn't check and I'm at work now).

Any and all input would be much apprecaited.

-aesic

[aesic]

So I realized that I filled the pumpkin COMPLETELY full of gear oil. I tipped the pumpkin on its side when filling and filled it till the oil came to the fill hole. Apparently you are only supposed to fill it to the fill hole when it is right side up (which ends up filling the pumpking about half way full of oil). I was wondering why it took ~4 quarts instead of 1.5-2 quarts

Now the question is, did I break the seal in the pumpkin from oil expanding or is it somehow just letting excess oil out? Also, is it possible to seal it back up without taking the entire pumpkin out? Guess a broken seal is better than a cracked diff case.

-aesic

[Nismo_Freak]

Check the side seals, they are most likely leaking.

Try draining the oil and see if it remedies, if not then you get to take it apart.