Rear axle - noises and smells
 

Hello.

My rear axle has been getting gradually noisier for some time now, and then after a motorway run at the weekend there was a hot, oily smell. It was stronger around the o/s wheel, but it was there on n/s too. It was dark when we got home, so I had a grovel around in daylight yesterday.

I can't see any obvious oil leaks. There's no waggle in the road wheels with them off the road, no free play at all in fact. There's a bit of rotational play in the prop, but no nasty clonks, and I couldn't get any obvious sideways play in the diff nose. But it does make a hell of a noise - I'd say about 60 or 70% of all the noise the car makes at speed when not under heavy throttle is coming from the rear end.

From memory I changed the diff oil about 3,000 or 4,000 miles ago, but that hasn't had any impact on the fact that it's generally getting noiser.

I need to get it on a lift to be able to explore properly, but any thoughts on likely culprits would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Andy.

Check the oil level first if you can't see anything obvious on the outside.

If the oil level is OK then I'd remove the rear cover and see if there are some nice shiny pieces floating about inside.

Cross dressing
 

Also check for a dragging brake drum. Are they getting hot?