Hello again,

I want to change my differential oil and I have seen the procedure in the service manual. What I'm wondering is if this is possible to do without a lift. If I put the rear of my car on stands, won't that make the angle wrong? I'm asking because it seems like you are supposed to measure when the fluid is filled by when it starts coming out of the hole. Wouldn't having the car on stands influence that balance and lead to me not putting enough/putting too much in as the angle of the hole would be off?

I don't know if this is a silly question or not...I just don't want to mess up an expensive part.

Thanks!

 

Level the car on 4 jack stands. 2 under the front cross member. 2 under the axle tubes on the rearend.

 

I always overfill by a half quart.

How?

I open the fill plug and remove the breather (it just pulls out) and fill through the breather until it starts to drool from the fill plug, then reinstall that and add the rest. Helps keep the diff bearings from starvation in cornering when most of the oil runs into the tubes.

Filling through the breather is also LOADS easier than filling through the fill plug. It's a little slower because there is a baffle under the breather hole, but there's a lot of room to put the bottle.


If you're filling to "normal" levels and working the car at an angle, the difference will be negligible at best. Remember, it only takes a quart and a half to go from empty to halfway up the housing, so having a small difference in angle is going to not amount to anything significant.

 

With the car on my storage skates, there is JUST enough room to reach under and do this. Pain in the neck, but it's level. I can do the trans with it on the skates, too.

 

Thanks for all the advice, it was really helpful.