I'm reading all kinds of "Issues" with the rear differentials in the X100's. I just purchased my XKR, and I'm new to the scene, and performing a fair amount of PM on my car including timing chain tensioners. Anyways I have the car on jacks, and there is a fair amount of oil where the drive shaft connects to the diff, and its flung around the local area of the rear axle. My car has 37,000 miles on it any suggestions what I should do?

 

It's possible you have a bad pinion oil seal. This can be changed for new seal without too much trouble but you need to follow the correct procedure in order to maintain specified pinion bearing preload.

 

I have and XJR, which utilizes the same 14HU differential as the one the XKR. My differential went out and had to swap it out for a used differential. Two weeks after the swap, something happened while under hard acceleration, and the new Diff started seeping oil at the pinion flange. I tried putting gasket sealer around where the outer ring fits into the diff housing which only helped a little bit, but it is still seeping.

What you can try is clean the diff breather/vent, then make sure the pinion nut is not loose. If that doesn't work, then you will need have the seal kit installed (JLM20602), or just top off the oil every once and a while.
Best price I could find for the seal kit is here: https://parts.jaguarnashville.com/oe...lange-jlm20602

The diff's are a weak point on these cars, but making sure that there is enough fresh oil in the diff, will maximize its longevity.

 

Good advice, but, I don't know about the XJR but on the XK8/Rs it's not a simple job due to the fill plug location.

 

somewhat easier on the coupe vs. the convertible, or so I've read here on the forum. True or False ?

I changed the diff. fluid on my '02 coupe with only minor difficulty, one really needs to feel the way around as the line of sight in this area is lacking.

Z.

PS is there anything in a car that smells worse than old rear end fluid ?

 

Nothing that a 2" drill bit can't fix:-



https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...er-way-146725/

 

Not sure, but on my XJ, one of the bars from IRS gets in the way. I just fit a 1/2" flex joint into the nut, then attach my 1/2" ratchet to the flex joint and can loosen it from there. It gets easier the more you do it.