Lexmex

Some of you may remember this photo.

My buddy Michael, whose RX-7 is on my car domain page, his wife had a Murano that busted its transfer case under 50,000 miles. Not a pretty sight after we took out the gear.

Meetya

I know this is strange. I agree with you, front differential should use ATF, since it shares it with transaxle, not 75w90. It is another mistake in Lexus specs.

Lexmex

I have the 99 manual, and have been looking at scans from a later RX300 manual and have been finding all sorts of goofs. One of the biggies was the misplacement of the Bank 1 and Bank 2 A/F sensors and some terrible diagrams of coolant drain plugs. Yeah, that one you found with the MAF sensor and oil pump was priceless.

Meetya

I just bought a new manifold from PPPP. It looks different. Heavier and has multiple layers of grid metal inside (for burn canalization, heat or sound suspension?). I will post photos of it installed. Also, thinking of welding the old one and selling it for $50.
PS: I so regret I did not have my camera with me when mechanics showed me the engine with head covers removed. I have seen my cams. Everything is so clean and sparky now... Btw, they are replacing two cams with OEM because aftermarket ones are causing timing lags. I think it was you who said there are no aftermaket cams for 1MZ. I guess there are, and they suck.

Lexmex

That's a shame those cams sucked. I have been looking around to try to get some customized ones made. There are a few people out there on the net who have toyed big time with the 1MZFE in terms of internals.

TunedRX300

Yes, I remember the 2nd coolant drain plug. I will replace my coolant soon and see whether that 2nd drain plug can release additional fluid inside the engine.

Meetya

What? Second coolant drain plug? Where is it?

thomas1

There is one on the radiator and one on the engine block, just to the right of the oil filter when looking at the front of the engine....

TunedRX300

There are two on the engine block, see this helpful DIY thread started by Lexmex. I took a picture of where the 2nd engine block drain plug is, near the front sway bar.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=249741

mrberl

Guys, can somebody knowledgeable make it clear which types of fluids to use in:

Front Diff.
Rear Diff.
Transfer Case.

And which one is interchangeable with the ATF oil ?

Also, if regular gear oil is poured into the Front Diff (interchangeable with ATF?), will it mix with the ATF fluid ?

Thanks in advance,

Mrberl

Lexmex

For transfer case and rear differential, a 75W90 gear fluid from any of the following, Amsoil, Mobil 1, Redline, Royal Purple would do just fine.

For front differential, which sits behind the tranny pan, only ATF, either Toyota Type IV or Amsoil ATF. Both the front differential and transmission are interconncted in terms of their fluid (even though they have separate drain plugs) and they are filled through the tranny dipstick (don't worry whatever you pour in will trickle on over to the front differential).

Don't pour gear fluid into the tranny dipstick. This is an error as we noted previously.

mrberl

Thanks for the reply, Lexmex.

Also, is there a way to check how much fluid there is in the transfer case and the rear differential ?

Lexmex

Well, kind of.

First of all, technically there is .9 L of fluid in each. The bottle you normally buy to fill it up is .946 L total.

If you take off the fill cap of each and reach in with your finger you should be able to feel the fluid by slightly dipping your finger in there.

Best thing to do is that if you have not done this in a while or are not sure if you have done it in a while to go ahead and change the fluid.

The only time where you will lose fluid is in 2 cases:

1) you have a leak and can visibly see the fluid dripping out the bottom.

2) you have a leak, but it is the puddle is not visible underneath. This is because you have a leak on the top and the fluid will only exist under high pressure through the top of transfer case/differential. I actually have this with my transfer case, but it is a nuisance I live with since it is tough to get at the top of the transfer case (eventually I will).

Eventually leak number 2 stops as the fluid level/pressure combined is not enough to push the fluid up and out.

shawnst

I know I still owe you this, Lexmex. That drain plug is too low profile and not being able to jack the car up, I really don't have much space to work with. I was afraid to strip the plugs, so I decided to have a shop do it. From about 20 feet away, the drained oil looked dirty. I believe the oil would smell bad although I wasn't close enough to tell. After the front transfer case oil change, the car does feel lighter for about 5 mins. And then it went back to the feel of same daily driving.

Lexmex

The transfer fluid is the one that usually smells bad. Some members over in the GS forums were confirming much the same, but of course the accumulation usually occurs on the rear. The good thing is that it has been changed out.

This past Saturday I attempted to deal with my little leak on my transfer case. Not much had gone out (it is a leak on the top), but I having no more Royal Purple (they make you buy the whole case here) I went over to BMW to get some of their synthetic 75W-140 differential fluid (Toyota has non-synthetic). Higher weight which can help in a seal leak and added what I could in there and my uncle took his hand and added some sealant he uses to seal engine blocks/transmissions. So far no leaks.