Leaking shaft seal ?

[S4_Chris]

Hey all, so I thought I'd treat the car to some new chrome cleaner today to do the exhaust tips and while on hands and knees scrubbing away I glanced under the car and saw that the rear transfer box was quite wet, so ramps out, car up and this is what greeted me

It looks to me like the fluid is coming from the seal between the box and the drive shaft and being flung off while driving, covering all around it, any ideas if I'm on the right lines here, if it's a difficult job to sort and will it be safe to use in the mean time ?
It did come with a warranty but I'm guessing I need it checking out and diagnosed to see if it's covered ?
Only had the car a month and I don't want to be forking out already, thanks Chris.

 

[Mike B]

I assume you don't know if this was ok when you bought it so it may have started sometime ago.Therefore you cant know how much fluid has been lost so you need to be cautious about using it and clearly needs sorting asap.Seems more like a failure than normal wear and tear unless its done a huge mileage so I would pursue the warranty route.Perhaps not a big job cos I had a leaking seal on a diff on my old B6 quattro and a good mechanic had no trouble in replacing

 

[MuPPeT_ON_TouR]

Good thing you have a warranty. Take it straight back.

 

[spartacus68]

Read this. https://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/s4-2011-sports-differential-leak.254954/

First thing to do is check the rear diff oil level. I doubt very much is losing enough gear oil to damage the diff, but better safe than sorry.

 

[Cerbera9]

Quite common I had one go a year ago and the other just recently

 

[S4_Chris]

Thanks for the reply's guys, cars booked in a local indie next week, they're going to clean all the fluid off, check and top up the fluids if needed and see how it looks after a week or so.
Thanks for the link @spartacus 68, interesting read
@Cerbera9 was this warranty work or did you have to pay for it, was the work involved and cost extortionate ?

 

[Cerbera9]

St Moritz Audi did the first one and it cost me €900!! The second one a mechanic mate did and just cost me the parts and fluid which was about £75

 

[cyhliu]

Thanks for the reply's guys, cars booked in a local indie next week, they're going to clean all the fluid off, check and top up the fluids if needed and see how it looks after a week or so.
Thanks for the link @spartacus 68, interesting read
@Cerbera9 was this warranty work or did you have to pay for it, was the work involved and cost extortionate ?

How did you get on with this issue? Turns out sadly my S4 has developed similar symptoms...

@Cerbera9 of the €900 was the bulk of the cost labour? How come it failed again?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[S4_Chris]

Been meaning to update @cyhliu, the garage cleaned the area and topped up the fluid, 600ml !, drove it for a couple of weeks and as yet no leak, just keeping an eye it for now.