Hi all. am overhauling all the running gear on my trike.

For some time now I've had grease or oil covering one exhaust (there are two exhausts on the Subaru ea81)

Havent been able to find where though. It was always my thoughts that its coming from a wheel axle uni joint (probably wrong terminology) on the wheels end of the axle. see pic. there is no gasket there, just bolts up with the 6 bolts.

any help with advice on how to seal it?

the CV joint seal on the output shaft on the gear box you must not have the wave washer under the 6 hex bolts make sure there tight

also replace the CV / axle boots with nex German brand

In plain English Check these seals, if you are having some axle movement these might be damaged and allowing gearbox oil into the joint

If it's grease, I'd say Dave is onto it. Looks like the joint is overloaded with grease, as Dave said, they need the serated lock washers and be VERY tight, also absolutely CLEAN on the mating faces that have been inspected for dead flat (no dings of divots), and use CV grease (it will handle the temp). VW's dont have the problem generally but Porsche use a gasket fitted to a recess in the cv, so you could put a bead of silicone around the edge of the flange upon installation.

dont forget loctite 515 flange sealant on both sides of the CV, boot and tranny flange side. Tiny bit under each screw head is good idea too.

thanks guys, got the idea.

Silver.....there arent any of those blue seals on either side of the auto transaxle.

Remember silver- its and auto. Here it is and the corresponding CV Cheers Tony

the seal on the output shaft is on the outside of the axle not the inner
the blue thing is just a dust plug to cover the attach bolt through the output axle

mmm, seems that the loctite on the mating surfaces and little on the bolts is the way to go. you can see from my pics there is grease between them.

read this,

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=548060&view=next 

thanks for your replies. apparently the seals on the axle housing are leaking. seems this is where the oil is coming from. A mechanic friend dropped in and said its oil not grease. so it must be differential oil.