'04 w/Leaking rear axle seals

[FarNorthTitan]

After a nice run from Phoenix to Colorado Springs both rear axle seals have started leaking with the drivers side being the worst. Man am I disappointed, this truck carried my family and towed 2100 lbs of household goods from Fairbanks, AK in weather that had other folks turning back but loses it on a easy 850 mile run. The day was cool, I kept the speed to 78mph and had the rear diff oil changed after the AK-CO move just to be safe.

My service tech told me that the 04's are having this problem but this truck has less than 20k miles on it and I baby it.


A good truck until today...

Far North Titan

[FarNorthTitan]

To bring this story to conclusion. The dealer installed new seals on both ends of the axle so now I wait and see if this is my last problem w/the axle.

[krh2]

I have a new '05 rear end on my '04, but how can you tell if your seals are leaking? Puddles, oil in the wheel well?

[markislive78]

Originally Posted by krh2

I have a new '05 rear end on my '04, but how can you tell if your seals are leaking? Puddles, oil in the wheel well?

I have the same prob on my drivers side......you can see the diff oil near the brake assembly

[Treebasher]

Here's a link that has pictures of a leaky seal and links to what people think is causing the issue, the breather valve.

is your Rear axle seal Leaking

[titanmoon]

A week ago, I came home after a 10 mile freeway trip and could smell differential fluid. Looking underneath you could see the oil flowing out of the right rear axle onto the backing plate and down onto the inside of the wheel.

Monday morning the dealer added fluid and test drove. They said they heard grinding. They pulled the cover and said they found bad bearings.

Dealer replaced entire rear axle w/ new type w/ finned cover. Although they said the part was on nationwide backorder, my truck was done Thusday.

I had checked underneath 2-3 weeks ago and there was no sign of a leak.
Nissan did me right by replacing entire assembly.