Short advice about rear differential fluid
Gsx_hooptie
06-16-2005, 10:00 PM
I wanted to post a few words about rear differential fluid for searchings' sake...
The advice in the Haynes manual reads like "See Jack Run. Run Jack Run!"
Actually, I think it really says "Remove bolt, add fluid, tighten bolt."
The better advice is found here: http://www.plymouthlaser.com/rear.htm
To add a few notes to the great pictures found there:
1) Good funnels can be found at Kragen/Checkers/Advance
2) Take the funnel to the local Home Depot and get a couple feet of clear hose with an ID that just fits over the black tip of the funnel (fifth picture of above site)
3) The best way to add the fluid is to "beer bong" it into the hole. Kind of like creating a pressure differential. Insert your new HD hose into the filler hole and wind the hose over the sway bar and exhaust, over to the driver's side of the car. If you buy enough hose you can stand up in style :cool: It's cheap, c'mon. Now slip the HD hose over the funnel tip and pour a quart of fluid into the funnel. I used Red Line 75W/90 Gear Oil. I'm sure using fluid as expensive isn't necessary, but now I have a new sticker for my door. The idea here is that while the hose will loop up slightly to fit into the filler hole, there will be enough pressure to force it in. When I tried doing this without the extra line, I couldn't get the stuff in.
4) The fluid is deceptively thick. The total time it took me to drain the quart in was about ten minutes.
5) When you're done, recover the leftover gear oil in your hose. I set mine up to drain back into the bottle for future use, and left it for a few hours. I was able to get most out.
5) Lastly, the fluid is the nastiest smelling substance imagineable. Not rotten eggs bad... more like dead, burnt tranny fluid. Only worse :)
It's not too bad a job, and while the guy on the site above was able to hack it with just the funnel and shorter line, I was only able to do it with more hose. Again, I'm not an allstar mechanic, but even if you are, why make it more difficult than it has to be. Good luck and have fun.
The advice in the Haynes manual reads like "See Jack Run. Run Jack Run!"
Actually, I think it really says "Remove bolt, add fluid, tighten bolt."
The better advice is found here: http://www.plymouthlaser.com/rear.htm
To add a few notes to the great pictures found there:
1) Good funnels can be found at Kragen/Checkers/Advance
2) Take the funnel to the local Home Depot and get a couple feet of clear hose with an ID that just fits over the black tip of the funnel (fifth picture of above site)
3) The best way to add the fluid is to "beer bong" it into the hole. Kind of like creating a pressure differential. Insert your new HD hose into the filler hole and wind the hose over the sway bar and exhaust, over to the driver's side of the car. If you buy enough hose you can stand up in style :cool: It's cheap, c'mon. Now slip the HD hose over the funnel tip and pour a quart of fluid into the funnel. I used Red Line 75W/90 Gear Oil. I'm sure using fluid as expensive isn't necessary, but now I have a new sticker for my door. The idea here is that while the hose will loop up slightly to fit into the filler hole, there will be enough pressure to force it in. When I tried doing this without the extra line, I couldn't get the stuff in.
4) The fluid is deceptively thick. The total time it took me to drain the quart in was about ten minutes.
5) When you're done, recover the leftover gear oil in your hose. I set mine up to drain back into the bottle for future use, and left it for a few hours. I was able to get most out.
5) Lastly, the fluid is the nastiest smelling substance imagineable. Not rotten eggs bad... more like dead, burnt tranny fluid. Only worse :)
It's not too bad a job, and while the guy on the site above was able to hack it with just the funnel and shorter line, I was only able to do it with more hose. Again, I'm not an allstar mechanic, but even if you are, why make it more difficult than it has to be. Good luck and have fun.
tfoti
06-17-2005, 12:01 AM
Couldn't have posted at a better time. I'm just about to do the t-case and rear end.
BTW, I used Pennzoil Synchromesh for my transmission. From Autozone it was 4.99 per bottle x 3. For anyone who hasn't heard of this it's the same as GM sychromesh but for half the price. It was recommended all over the place at dsmtuners.
After a few miles of driving i noticed a noticeable difference in the shifting, much smoother now. I highly recommend it. Head on over to dsmtuners and do a search and see for yourself.
BTW, I used Pennzoil Synchromesh for my transmission. From Autozone it was 4.99 per bottle x 3. For anyone who hasn't heard of this it's the same as GM sychromesh but for half the price. It was recommended all over the place at dsmtuners.
After a few miles of driving i noticed a noticeable difference in the shifting, much smoother now. I highly recommend it. Head on over to dsmtuners and do a search and see for yourself.
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