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My diff started leaking at the track!


HICKL

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I finally took my car to the 1/8th mile last friday night andon my 6th run, they let me know that I was leaking oil on the track. I checked it out and it is coming from my diferential. I drove it home and it is still leaving a puddle after 3 days. I thought maybe it had just got hot or something and blew out of the vent but seems like it would quit dripping by now. Any idea what would have caused this sudden leak? I have not cleaned it yet to try and pinpoint, but pretty much the whole back cover is wet.

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Probably coming from the vent unless your vent is plugged causing the side seals to blow. Make sure you don't overfill the diff. There is a metal shield/gasket thingy that Nissan put in the front R180 diffs on the 1980 through 1985 4wd trucks that shields the vent opening and keeps fluid from splashing out. If you're running a R200, then just make sure the fluid level is below the fill plug opening by about 1/4 inch.

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I have not jacked with my diff in probably 2 years with a fair amount of highway miles and probably 30 passes on it. Just seems odd that it came out of the vent now. Maybe it's just telling me "it's time to service"!

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I have not jacked with my diff in probably 2 years with a fair amount of highway miles and probably 30 passes on it. Just seems odd that it came out of the vent now. Maybe it's just telling me "it's time to service"!

 

 

On that note, what oil do you guys recommend?

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You might also check the cover bolts to see if they've loosened. I think it's pretty common for those to loosen on drag Zs. My favorite gear oil is SWEPCO 201 but it's pretty pricey and probably not necessary if you aren't road racing and getting the diff really hot.

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We were blowing rear gear oil out and it was coming from the vent tube. To remmedy the problem we used 1/2 inch rubber fuel line and attached to the vent and ran it up and tied it off. This way under high rpm if it pushed gear oil out it would run up the hose.

 

John

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I spent some time looking at it last night and I think it is just blowing out of the tube. All bolts are tight and it it dry around the half shafts.

 

Take the cap off of the vent tube. Clamp a rubber hose on to it. Run the hose up and coiled 360 degrees to the bottom of a catch can. Anything that gets through the 360 tube will drain back from the can. The top of the can should be vented. You might look at a small JAZ unit.

 

Alan

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I actually went to the trouble to remove the plastic vent and tap the hole with a 1/4" NPT tap. It is aluminum and I used a shopvac with a micro cleaning attachment to clear swarf from the hole when I was turning the tap. It helps to remove the fill plug to allow the vac to pull air through the hole. I am not concerned with any small amount of aluminum that may have stayed inside the unit.

 

I screwed in a hose nipple and ran the hose ~12" up and across the mustach bar. I attached a cheap metal fuel filter to the end of the hose to catch any drips.

I had been loosing quite a bit of gear oil at every track event. This has completely stopped ANY oil from escaping the system.

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