Front diff breather burping fluid

[WB9YZU]

'07 Commander 4WD.

I found a 1" puddle of stinky fluid after I put the Jeep away tonight.
After getting out the flashlight and crawling around I saw fluid marks on the Pass side tire and the inner fender, but no fluid on the axle shaft or brakes/brake lines. What I did see was fluid accumulation on the pass side inner fender behind the shock, and on the lower frame. I saw there is a hole in the inner fender and no fluid above it, so I looked on the engine side and found, what I believe is the source - the diff breather. The viscosity and smell matches what I found on the ground.

I saw on a Dodge truck forum that there is a TSB due to leaking at breathers on those vehicles caused by drivers starting off cold and getting up to speed without a warm up. We had a couple of cold snaps, and yes, I usually just start, wait 30sec to a min and go.

I've had the vehicle since April and haven't noticed this before.
Thoughts?

 

[WB9YZU]

I did some research on this. The symptom the WK post I found was exact to the letter the same fluid path down the engine side fender, out the inner fender behind the strut, and onto the frame.

My remedy tonight was to clean all the gear oil off, clean the vent assembly (Gunky/Sticky), force a couple of fluid oz of gear oil down the vent tube, and to reassemble. I wonder if because it was gunky that on one of the 30deg days it didn't open to vent until pressure built up.

I'll see what happens.

 

[WB9YZU]

I noticed more fluid today, so I pulled the "skid plate" and examined the axle. No external leaks, and breather tube was unobstructed. Pulled the fill plug. It was a bit low, but the thing which caught my eye was that the fliud was brown. I can't remember seeing that color of diff oil before.

I did service to both diffs. Both had brown fluid.

 

[old_man]

Puking out the breather is caused by one of two things. First is over filling the axle. The second is moisture in the axle that expands when heated.

Drain the axle and refill.