ayte guys i checked the faq about this topic did’nt see anything on it, neways i want to change the diff oil am i want to know if anyone has some advise on how to do this, as in i also want to remove the diff cover and clean it out, does it have any seal or gasket that i will have to replace if the cover is remove??
there’s a bolt on the diff, when you unbolt it it’ll drain the oil out…
also, removing the cover means you’ll have to replace the gasket. But I’m not sure if you can do that w/o removing the diff from the subframe.
sean i went to work say last week hoping to change my dif and tranny oil and man those plugs rusted to shit and wouldn’t budge even a millimetre. I had 2 guys helping me out but couldn’t get the thing to move. I’m thinking of purchasing the 1/2" male snap-on drain plug bit tho. shown here:
I just stuck the end of my 1/2" rachet in that bitch, I don’t see how that thing will help, unless it makes you lighter cause you got 15 bucks less in ur pocket. So it reduces fatigue?
The guys in NICO recommended it, but i tried all of my ratches 1/2" rachets but still no luck.
all i did was get a torch and heat up the nut (but just the nut ) and waited until it was nice and hot then used a 1/2 inch ratchet and it came right off and mine was really rusty. I had to dig the rust out so i can fit the ratchet in there
To change the oil, there is a drain plug on the underside of the diff,
- Use a 1/2" drive breaker bar to crack the plug and drain the oil.
- While it’s draining there is another plug up on the driver-side of the diff cover, use the same 1/2" drive to crack this plug, it’s for filling the diff.
- Screw drain plug back in onced the old oil is finished oozing its way out.
- There are two ways you can fill the diff, i) Get a funnel and a couple feet of hose and “Beer bong” the oil into the differential, you’ll likely have to take the wheel off to get proper access to the fill hole. Or ii) Go to canadian tire and pick up a fluid pump, one hose for in, one hose for out. In hose goes in the oil container, out hose goes in the diff.
- Pump/pour away.
- Fill the diff until oil begins to leak from the fill hole and then put the plug back in. The diff will take just under 2 litres of fluid before it starts to dribble out.
The pump method of filling the diff is the easiest and least messy and the pump is only about $20. Use 75w90 or 80w90 gear oil. Redline 80w90 is good for an open or viscous differential. However, some mechanical differentials don’t like synthetics (ie: Kaaz, Tomei) so something like Castrol Hypoy C would be necessary.
As to taking the cover off to clean it out, you’ve gotta drop the whole pumpkin from the subframe as it is bolted to the subframe via bolts in the cover itself. Not worth it IMO.
Now, I’m not sure just how badly the rust gets on the diffs for you Ontario guys, but any of you tried hitting it with a little penetrating oil and/or using a snipe or impact gun on it?
B-Wurm 
I was going to torch the plug but i changed my mind to using some WD-40. But if heating it up worked for you i guess ill try it.
One other note, make sure you get the fill plug loosened FIRST so that you know you can fill it up agin after you’ve drained it.
you said the EXACT thing that I was going to say…
but yeah heating it and cracking it always works…
and when you are done, dont be afraid to use some teflon tape on the drain plug, and no you dont have to tighten the snot out of the fill plug since its not always submerged in oil
neither has to be really tightened, the diff isn’t pressurized
Do VLSD’s require special fluid or can you just use 75-90 or 80-90 synthetic like redline or motul etc…?
No, the VLSD part is a sealed unit so the oil won’t affect it.
Spray some PB buster on it a couple times… and hammer down on that bad boy, it will come out.
Spray some PB buster on it a couple times… and hammer down on that bad boy, it will come out.