I just changed the oil for the first time (Royal Purple syn and Mobil 1 filter FTW) but I went full retard and pulled the drain plug on the front diff at first. Reached under, determined it to be 13mm, pulled, watched it start to drain and wondered "Huh, why the hell is it, like, gray? Looked at the end of the bolt and saw some metal sticking to it like it was magnetic and thought "huh, WTF?" again. Then I went "OH ****!" and put the plug back on.

It must have free flowed for 5 full seconds or so. It did not appear to be slowing down when I re plugged it. I checked the manual and could not find a capacity for it. How much of it did I probably let out? What is the capacity?

Okay to drive for a little while until I can get in to the local shop? (will just go ahead and get the diff fluid replaced next week)

So stupid.

 

assuming its like the rear you would fill it to the top of the fill hole, i wouldnt drive it personally

 

I'll just stop being a dumbass and use my wife's car to get some gear oil at autozone tonight

 

FYI- it calls for synthetic.

 

It does? I intend to look at the manual as I get out in the parking lot, but thanks and noted

 

Sure it calls for sunthetic??

I forgot to look at or get the manual out before leaving. Autozone did not even have full synthetic 80w90 gear oil so I got Valvoline durablend.

Good?

 

Any gear oil will be fine, unless your doin a whole lot of driving in 4wd?
The front gears arent in a big bind.
Are you topping it off or doin a fluid change?

 

haha, reminds me of my first time at jiffy lube... but i pulled the trans plug on a toyota matrix, not a diff plug. best part of that was there was no dip stick to re-fill... i had a learning experience... anyhoo on the diff the plug is on the same side (assuming they didnt change the diff) as the drain only up a few inches. and if i remember the capacity is 3 quarts or so. buy 4. might as well drain and refill, i would... diff fluid is nasty as hell(gives me headaches) but goes in looking sort of like new engine oil and grey is from metal and some moisture. hell ive had to suck out mud out of diffs, but at least it didnt give me a headache.

 

Thanks for the input guys.

I got the quart and put in as much as I could get out of it in the limited space, after draining out all of the old. I still couldn't feel the fill level with my finger so I'll get another quart and top if off sometime soon.

Actually using 4WD will be a rarity. I've had it for a few weeks and haven't used it for more than a couple blocks up front just to check. We only really got 4WD for our frequent trips up north during winter.