Changing Rear And Front Diff Fluid

[central coast person]

DIY

Disclaimer: This information is provided for your information only, anything you choose to do with this information is completely up to you and in no way will I, Skylines Australia or any affiliates be held accountable for following said actions, causing damage or harm to you or your car.

Aim: To change front and rear differential fluids. Most skylines have very old fluids in there diffs and need changing and will do wonders as Nissan diffs seem to get very loose around the 100,000km mark. Changing fluid will help tighten your LSD up without going into the shiming process.

Car: The model i did this on was a r33 series 1.5 GTS-4. It counts for all r33 and r34 LSD equiped skylines. Im not sure about r32 as i have not had the chance too look but i presume it too be the same. Any questions about your model i wil try an answer as i have mates cars that i can refrence too.

Difficulty and time:

Low - Medium (depending on how stuck your bung plugs may be). It can take from 30min - 2hours (again depending on the bung plugs.

Materials/Equipment Needed:

You will need

- 1/2" ratchet as this is the size for the bung plugs

- 80w-140 Gear oil (My bottle was roughly 3.9L and i had about a liter left)

- Transfer pump or 2 Meters or tubing and a funnel. Tape the funnel around the tubing and poor it in while the funnel is higher than the filler hole in the diff

- Oil catch tub

(Things that will help you that bit extra)

- Rags

- Trolley jack

- Car stands

- Extention bar

- WD40

- Warm car

Tips

1). Best go for a 15 min drive to heat the diff up a bit. The drive does not make the car hot underneath orthe diffs but if you have a stainless steel or titanium exhaust system the tight space may make things a little hot around the rear diff filler hole. Just get a rag and wrap that section of the exhaust where the bung plug sits too the right off.

2). When taking the plugs off, always remove the filler hole first as it can leave you in tuff situations if you cant get it off or thread the plug.

3). It helps if you have a spare person on hand if your not using stands. Two people can use force on the rachet, one pulls the other pushes. I didnt use stands so used the 'technique' for one of the plugs as the exhaust most likely heated it up to the point of it feeling like it had been welded on.

4). Stands will allow you too use breaker bars and extention bars if your a one man army and it saves you a lot of time and swearing.

Step By Step:

THE REAR LSD

1). Firstly get some WD40 and spray the rear diff bung plugs and let ot soak in. You can also tap them around

Picture of drain bung on rear diff, spray with WD40.

Picture of filler bung on rear diff, spray with WD40

2). Now crack the plugs.................. First the filler plug, then the drain plug

Picture of filler bung plug on rear diff. You can see the tight fit it was with my exhaust system only being a few inches away. It took me about an hour to break the seal on this plug as i would asume the exhaust heat helped it practly weld itself too the thread. This is where i used my 'technique'.

Once thats cracked, move onto the drain hole.

Picture of drain plug. It was simple to crack this one. Make sure you have your oil tub under it too catch the oil that comes out.

3). Now let the oil drain for a few minutes. Mine was definatly past its used by date and was also very thin which concerned me.

In the mean time check your drain plug for metal. Mine was fairly clean with the plug only having mercury fine metal shavings on it and one small metal piece no bigger than 2mm.

4). Now you put the drain plug in and go get your bottle of oil and transfer pump or funnel pipe thingy and simply fill the diff from the filler hole.

You want too keep filling it untill the oil starts too trickle from the filler hole. Once it starts too trickle have your filler plug on stand by.

Thats simply the rear diff done. It was about 1.6L front is a bit less

THE FRONT DIFF

1). Firstly get some WD40 and spray the front diff bung plugs and let ot soak in. You can also tap them around

You can see the top one in green and the bottom one in yellow. They are simple too get too, on the driver side of the sump and come off with force.

2). - 4). (Simply refer too the steps of the rear diff as its the same just in different and easier location. The diff took 1.2L of oil.)

It should look like this while filling)

All up it helped me keep my rear diff locking and in good condition. I assume all skyline would have the bung plugs in a fairly similar position and if so thats all you need too know. This topic is designed to help people with knowing what look for and the r33's and r34 use the same LSD and the r32 are hopefully very similar. Hope this helps you and any questions just leave them here or PM me.

Central Coast Person

[central coast person]

ADMIN please move as my first 2 times posting would not work and the third try it ended up here in car audio & security somehow

Edited April 17, 2010 by central coast person

[nicr4wks]

Nice guide and pics show the location of everything well, have been planning to do my diff & gearbox after I get the car back from having some panel work done.

[tranman]

HEy Great write up. I love DIY stuff like this. I will be doing mine to see if i can cure wat i think is the rear diff binding. AFter reading this i have an excellent grasp of what to do. Much appreciated

Cheers