Grease coming off drive shaft U joint?

[frizille]

I've got 16 miles on my Caterham Roadsport built and am in the process of fixing a few issues that have cropped up post-build. While trying to discern where a metal-on-metal thunk noise is coming from when I turn (which I think is coming from the rear), I noticed both the front and rear U joints on the drive shaft are seeping a lot of greenish grease which is being flung against the transmission tunnel walls. Is that normal?

 

High rez pic is here: http://i2.wp.com/danielfrye.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/2015-07-07-21.20.26.jpg

 

As for the metal-on-metal thunk noise, I've got the BMW diff with LSD and the rear anti-roll bar is in place. From what I've read the noise I'm hearing, which isn't all that loud, could just be normal for that setup. The rear bolts all seem to be tight based off my paint marks on the bolts but will check those once I fix the intermittent speedo issue - which is probably the grounding issue others have reported.

 

Daniel

[jlumba81]

U joints do that if there's too much grease. I greased up mine and have grey grease in my transmission tunnel. Do you have an open rear diff or a locker? You might be hearing the locker in the diff on tight turns. Since there would be more wheel speed difference between the left and right wheels on tighter turns.

[xcarguy]

U joints do that . . . . I . . . . have . . . . . grease in my transmission tunnel.

 

Ditto. A necessary evil if have u-joints with Zerk fittings that require periodic greasing.

[frizille]

Excellent, glad it's normal. Will wipe it up and move on. As for the diff, it's a ZF limited slip based on the info here: http://www.mycaterham.com/66828/117416.html. Thanks for the help!