Thanks for the info. I've been researching this for several hours and have discovered that leaking rear differentials are apparently common. It looks like a design flaw or bad manufacturing across thousands of units. My '98 has 107,000 miles and is now out of warranty. Considering that I have had every scheduled maint. performed by the same dealership that I purchased the vehicle from, I'm thinking about asking for some relief from the crazy prices that they want me to pay for this fix. They said that I should take this opportunity to also replace the bearings so altogether, with both sides, they want $960. Anyone have a similar experience with expensive issues that showed up within 10K miles of warranty expiration?