Leaky Rear

One of the easier things to replace on most vehicles is the rear differential gasket. Not on the MG. While it's not complicated what makes the process challenging is that the parking brake cable and the rear brake fluid lines are attached to the rear diff housing.

Removing the parking brake cable and lever is a simple matter of two bolts and that can be moved out of the way.

The main troublemaker are the clips holding the rear brake line in place. The clips are connected to two of the top rear diff cover bolts. These are metal and apparently usually rusted. When I attempted to remove the bolts the clips would rotate and start to bend the brake line. I wasn't really looking to replace the brake lines so I had to come up with a different approach.

Out comes the Dremel and the diamond cutting blade!

The Dremel made quick work of the clip. Once it was cut I was able to remove the retaining nut, pull the clip off, and then remove the rear diff cover bolt.

The rest of the steps are simple. Drain the oil, remove the bolts, pull the over, and clean it up.
The remaining bolts were pretty easy to remove. Once complete I just pulled the cover off.

Using a scraper I cleaned up the left-over gasket from the rear diff.

After picking myself up off of the floor I moved to be workbench to spruce up the rear diff cover. One issue I encountered during the removal phase was that the filler plug housing fell out. Oil had been leaking from it but I didn't realize this was due to the loose housing.

Once I had the cover in hand on the bench I would clean it up using engine cleaner and brake cleaner. My trusty "go tos" for cleaning up grease and oil. After cleanup was finished I worked on securing the filler plug housing.

Using some JB Weld I was able to secure the housing into place. I let this cure overnight before moving on to final cleanup and paint.

The next day I grabbed the can of hi-temp black paint and gave the cover a quick spray.

After the paint dried I began the reinstallation.

Remember why we're here? Leaky rear differential. This means replacing the gasket. That is the easy part. I used some gasket adhesive to fix the new gasket in place. Back on the ground and under the car it does take a little maneuvering to get the cover positioned due to the cables and brake lines but after a few tries I positioned a couple bolts to hold the cover on while working my way around the perimeter with the rest. Sorry no pics of that.

I still had to re-secure the brake line to the top of the diff. I decided to go search for replacement clips for the brake line but wanted to use nylon or plastic so future removal would be easier. In the photo below you can see the nylon p-clips I used. I found these at Lowe's Home Improvement Store in the specialty fasteners section of hardware.

Now that everything is back in it's rightful place we're ready to go for a ride!

By the way, no more leaks from the rear differential.