![]() Drive your vehicle for a few minutes to warm the oil, then change into your grungy clothes-you'll probably get dirty. In either case, you'll need a wide catch pan a plastic dropcloth beneath that would be good insurance. Some differentials have a drain plug others require you to remove the housing cover. ![]() Nick Ferarri/Popular Mechanicsĭepending on the design of your differential, this can be a very messy or a very tidy job. Loosen the bolt at the very top of the cover, but leave the bolt in place to prevent the cover from falling off completely and drenching the floor-and you-in differential oil. There are many variations on the design, but they fall into three categories: open, limited-slip, and torque-vectoring. If both drive wheels rotated together, they'd jump-skitter because the outside tire travels farther than the inside. If your car is fitted with a limited-slip differential, it also keeps all the moving parts in that assembly healthy.Ī differential allows your car to make corners without drama. The differential oil lubricates the ring and pinion gears that transfer power from the driveshaft to the wheel axles. Let's build something cool together.įront-drivers typically integrate the differential in the transmission housing and share the same fluid. In a rear-wheel-drive car, the differential has its own housing and lubrication, a thick, dark oil usually heavier than 80 weight. The differential is a component in all cars and is designed to compensate for the difference in distance the inner wheels and outer wheels travel as the car goes around a corner. ⚠️As always, check your owner's manual for the exact frequency you should service your differential. Fortunately, you only need to change this oil every 30,000 to 50,000 miles. Because the differential is at the rear and under the car, it gets none of the star treatment that the engine up front does.īut if lubrication in the car differential fails, you won't be getting very far for very long. At that level I see pretty much "normal" oil temps according to the OE level.Changing the car differential oil-it's one of the most-overlooked maintenance tasks on non-FWD light trucks, SUVs, and passenger cars. This puts a little more oil down the axle tubes and into the wheel bearings and I think this is a good compromise. I now run my oil a little over the Mag-Hytec bottom mark. None of this is a huge deal but it does provide some indicators. Dropping to approximately the OE level (about the bottom of the Mag-Hytec dipstick mark) the oil consistently ran around 10 degrees cooler. At a point, I had a pretty good database of oil temps and wondered if dropping the level would result in any drop in temp. I wasn't a big fan of the idea but ran it that way with no ill effects for a number of years. Mag-Hytec ( I have Mag-Hytecs on both my trucks) advocates a higher oil level than the axle manufacturer recommends. I have demonstrated that higher fluid levels causes increased oil temps on my own trucks. I don't know how fast this kills the oil but I know it's faster than if it wasn't being frothed up. Foaming increases the oxidation rate of the oil because it's being aerated. Overly high oil level can cause foaming, and higher oil temps due to fluid friction.
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