I was driving to a friend's house for Thanksgiving dinner last Thursday, when my car seemed to lock up and stop dead right in the middle of the road. Had it towed to a different friend's house and put lubricant in the rear end.

The car makes a loud grinding noise from the back whenever it's driven. Putting fresh lubricant in did not solve anything. Repair wise, after talking to a shop in town that does work on foreign cars, I'm looking at about $2,000 to have the car fixed. I only paid $1,800 for the car back in July. I'm probably going to try and sell it, since there's no way I can come up with two grand anytime soon.

If anyone knows what the problem is or has experienced the same thing, let me know. For peace of mind, if nothing else. Thanks.

 

I think either the input or output shaft seals were leaking over a period of time and the oil level finally fell too low. Is there any indication that the seals were leaking?
This appears to be a fairly common problem.