Fluid leaking from rear center cap???

[Akedos]

Just parked my Jeep and noticed a hot fluid leaking from around the rear driver side center cap. Any ideas what it is and what it means?

 

[Porkchop]

What center cap? the wheel? What color is the fluid? Do you have pic? Is it clear like brake fluid or black to brown and stinks like rear diff fluid?
Need more info to go on.

 

[Akedos]

The seam between the plastic jeep center cap and the alloy rim. It looks off color/brown... it was hot and bubbling. Looking like some stuff has had time to build up there.

 

[Akedos]

And it is the driver's side rear on the rim... will see if I can get a pic tomorrow.

 

[J-Thompson]

I can see no way for the gear oil to get to that point
let alone get "hot and bubbling"
if it did then you may have some real problems
I would check the fluid level in the rear diff before driving
also look at the back side of that wheel/tire for even more mess

 

[LibertyTC]

If that fluid sticky thick & smells like oop:...
Axle seal could be puke.gif gear lube all over!
Time to pull that wheel and inspect a nasty situation!
When I hear bubbling I think of hot brakes though, with fluids cooking.
Cant remember what brake fluid smells like when frying, probably gag & (blarg)

 

[yellocoyote]

Axle seal is quite a ways away from where the wheel center caps would be though. I had a bad seal on mine once, and it seeped just below where the intermediate shaft goes in...

 

[Minimike]

Have you had a recent brake job? some technicians will grease the hub hole of the rotor or the hub face to prevent corrosion and the rotor seizing onto the hub (I use a smal about of dielectric grease or anti-seize, the copper stuff.). If he used to much it may be getting hot and oozing out. Dielectric grease will not smell like anything really. There isn't a whole lot that can cause that sort of issue.

Before anyone complain about greasing the hub. I have performed hundreds and hundreds of brake jobs and services and have not had one issue with using a small amount of grease to prevent corrosion.

 

[Akedos]

No recent brake work. I took the rim off and I saw no fluids of any type leaking anywhere in the location.

Best description of the scenario... when I stopped the vehicle I heard what I thought was the tire leaking. Noticed small bubbles and air coming from the seam of the center and rim. When I had the rim off all I noticed was a lot of Aluminum to Steel corrosion. I cleaned that all off the rotor and rim and put the tire back on. Haven't had a repeat of symptoms.

 

[Porkchop]

Must be something like water in the center cap and the heat build up made it steam out. Did it rain did you wash it, do some puddle jumping? Something Odd like that.