Gen 3- Oil dripping off the back of my drive shaft onto my rear sway bar

[Offroadmuch]

There is quite a bit of oil dripping off the rear drive shaft, I think that is where is it coming from, onto the rear sway bar. Any idea why this happening? I did about 80 miles in the desert about a month ago but nothing too harsh.
Thoughs or advice, stuff I should check?

 

[offthepath]

Pinion seal is about the only place it could be coming from I'd imagine.

 

[Michael Brown]

That's the vehicle's natural rust prevention

I would start cleaning the grime and oil away so you can see nice metal. Then drive about 30mins or so to get the oil drips. Follow them back along the cleaned surfaces to the source. It can be almost impossible to follow them before cleaning the dirt away.

 

[Offroadmuch]

Yes I will do that. I think I have one drip on the garage floor so it must be fairly new. I will wash it off and look for the origin.

 

[Offroadmuch]

Defintitely the pinion seal. Any specific recommendations, does and don'ts? Looks pretty straight forward. I watched a bunch of youtube videos on the subject. I may have it done. Either way I would like to use Mitsu or other preferred parts.
Thanks

 

[nckwltn]

It could be that the CV shaft came out and then back in. There is a know issue with earlier gen 3s, where the circlip isn't quite big enough and the shaft can slip out. Happened to me once while wife driving around town. We did live at a place with a really steep driveway, depending on the approach angle, could hit a bit of suspension flex pulling up.

 

['round n' back again]

just smell it, if it smells like gear oil, it probably is
if it is then look for wet seal areas that have the same odor....? maybe

 

[Offroadmuch]

Smells different than regular motor oil so I think it is the rear diff fluid.
I will check the cv shaft situation.

 

[Offroadmuch]

Will be dropping off my truck at:
http://www.ocoffroadandautorepair.com, Orange County area (Huntington Beach)
Pete here has done some work on other ExPo member's Monteros and is pretty up to speed on them. I am glad to get another set of eyes on it to start planning maintenance etc. Will let you know how it goes.

 

[Marutuk]

Definitely can vouch for Pete. Although I am sure he'll be tired of seeing both the Monteros of my wife and I by now but both our Gen 2.5 and Gen 3 gave him plenty of experience with Monteros

 

[Offroadmuch]

Thanks for the bump on this.
Pete was great. Used a Mitsu pinion seal. Done on time as he said and done right. Very fair price even with a real Mitsu part.
Good guy. I tried to get him to sell me a bunch of stuff I want to do but he is very down to earth, will not sell you something you don't need. I will be back for other stuff. See the link for his shop a few posts above if interested.