SEBASS

Hi guys.

Why is differential leaking? Is this common for this year ? Is this bad and how bad? What do i need to do what are parts costs ? If its low on fluid how do i replenish diff fluid ? If you can provide as much details i would really appreciate it. When putting tranny in gears is not as smooth sometimes. Would this be related?

Jrezo

Well bad if it is way low. Is there a lot of noise and vibration?

LexLs.com, easy to refill.

Looks like you need to reseal that rear portion of the pumpkin. i am almost positive you need to remove diff to do so. Once you have removed that plate clean and reseal.

$10-15 for gear oil, 2Qts.
$11 for a new seal.

You should notice it driving a bit smoother after service. I would all so suggest the trans if is really that hard when shifting into gear.

SEBASS

Jrezo thanks a lot. There is not noise or vibration that i can notice and i do pay attention to anything since I already had 91 ls400. My guess (and it could be poor guess) is that previous owner ever change the fluid and its started to leak. What do you mean i need to remove diff? Just the plate on the back you mean or actually take it out ?
http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/suspe...iffchange.html

The tranny fluid is golden not dark brown but i recall my 91 ls tranny at 225k (mine is 165k) was still smooth while this one is NOT as smooth..i would call sometimes jerky...not horrible but not great either. Will tranny fluid make it smooth or is it just tranny is old and that will not improve? What bothers me that my previous ls at 225k was still smooth and this one at 165k is not. However the engine at 165k is way way better then mine was at 225k. I'm loving engine, hating the tranny.

Is that reseal job easy to do? I'm not mechanically savy but if it's simple unscrew and remove seal i could possibly do it, unless it involves removal of diff itself?

sam12345

iTrader: (1)

Are you sure your fill plug is tight and has a good seal/ gasket? Check that out first before doing anything else. And while you are at it replace the fluid.

SEBASS

Sam thanks. Will do that too. I just got this car like a month ago and still getting it into shape. So far started with not so important stuff like lcd replacement and antenna rep.
At next oil change wanna change to shell or mobile1 synthetic and wanna flush tranny.
Hoping it will be smooth. Wanna see how engine is in summer and if a/c works.

sam12345

iTrader: (1)

If you are going to do the tranmission flush make sure you do the unpressurized one that only uses the tranmissions own pump. Also just change the fluid don't have them add the cleaning agent they add when they flush. If you really suspect that the fluid is dirty I would first drop the pan, clean it out , change or clean the pick up filter and put pan back on. Then do the flush. This way you do not get all the dirt, debris that is at the bottom of your pan into all the solenoid filters and then have a shifting issue.

sam12345

iTrader: (1)

Also check the adjustment of the cable that goes from the throttle to the tranny. This may be miss adjusted and causing the harsh shifting. I posted a thread on how to do that. But either way I would change the fluid as mentioned above this should help on the shifting.

SEBASS

Sam thanks. I was thinking of t-tech which i believe is just complete fluid exchange. Oh and the roughness is also when i put in into drive, not only when driving.
This seems to improve when car warms up but slightly. BTW i hear some ppl using tmobile tranny fluid. Is that ok or ONLY toyota red tranny fluid?

Regarding the diff do i only need to take the cover and clean and change the seal and put the cover back on or it actually involves taking diff out? ...sorry if this is stupid question. Thanks guys again.

sam12345

iTrader: (1)

I have not done a differential seal but my bet is that your fill plug is leaking so it will be no big deal but I could be wrong.

I did not know a cell phone company made tranny fluid (lol). I think you meant mobil 1 ATF. I put Mobil 1 ATF in my avalon and I swear I never felt a car shift smoother in my life. On my ls I put the Type IV only because of all the comments on this site. But I think next time I will put the Mobil 1 ATF in because of the good results I got on my avalon.

SEBASS

LOL. Oh snap! That was total freudian slip. That's funny. lol.
I guess i will look up what you mean by your tranny fluid comment.
I'm hoping you're right about the plug seal. We always hope for best but most of the time it's not but that is out of my hands anyway. Thank you again.

Bill Dowd

I use mobil 1 in my 1990 LS 400 tranny with 238,000 changing it every 30k I also use mobil 1 in the rear end 75-90 changing it every 50k and power steering using mobil 1 trany fluid changing it 30k my 86 cressida went 529,000 using all mobil 1 and never has a failure on anything, it's good stuff

SEBASS

I just noticed that point of lift on the car is differential ???
Could improper placement or stress of lift cause diff to leak ???

ucfjon

iTrader: (1)

No, improper placement of the jack on the diff would not cause the diff to leak. Worst case scenario, if placed improperly, it would snap a cooling fin at worst.

Jrezo

From the first pic it looks like the seal is leaking. You can easily view the fill bolts and see if those are leaking. I cant fully tell but from that pic i would say seal.

You cant reach all of the bolts to remove that plate can you? I cant remember last time i was under there. Here is another great site to reference http://bananags.grantham-international.com/. Yes it is a GS but pretty much the same thing.

Keep us posted.

JimsGX

The rear diff plate is also where the differential bushings/bolt attach to that go through the rear subframe. Those differential subframe bolts (metric allen wrench) will need to come out in order for you to remove the rear plate from the diff. The propeller shaft may need to come off of the front of the differential as well. Make sure you place match marks on the diff and prop shaft so they go back together the exact same way if you do end up disassembling it.