DIY Rear Differential Drain & Fill LS430
08-21-16, 08:22 PM
#31
Has anyone popped off the diff housing cover to manually clean inside? Is this even possible? There's a few ppl that had significant iron shavings and sludge on the magnetic tip of the drain plug, and was thinking it would probably be best to get inside for a manually cleaning as a fluid drain will only do so much and won't remove all the shavings/sludge.
Thanks,
Randy G.
Thanks,
Randy G.
11-25-16, 01:43 PM
#32
Performed this service today on my LS430. Not much to report other than I drained about 1.8 qts out of the system. I just jacked up the rear passenger side in order to gain access to the plugs and then let the car down to its normal position to drain. Same for the fill. Once I got enough fluid into the diff to where it started to come out I lowered the car down again where it drained down to the proper level. Jack up car once more and screwed in fill plug.
An easy service to do other than pumping 1.8 qts of cold gear oil back into the differential by hand...
An easy service to do other than pumping 1.8 qts of cold gear oil back into the differential by hand...
Last edited by Gronemus; 11-27-16 at 08:51 PM.
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Tom58 (07-09-18)
11-27-16, 07:37 PM
#34
Moderator
Did mine first time at 35k miles and again last month at 90k miles. Used Redline 75w-90 full synthetic diff fluid. Fluid looked dark both times. Had a little bit of very fine gunk on the mag drain plug but no visible metal or savings. Going forward I will drain and fill differential at 60k mile interval.
11-28-16, 08:27 PM
#35
Pole Position
If anyone has opened up the rear cover on the diff, did they take a note of any part numbers in there? Still trying to source an LSD and was hoping a Supra diff head would pop right in
06-30-18, 05:34 AM
#36
Another alternative to do this: I used a ~6inch long scrap plastic tubing (I think it is 3/8 in diameter). Attached the tubing to the cap for Mobil 1 gear oil bottle. The tubing is long enough to reach the fill hole, so now you can reach the fill hole from the bottle. Then just need to squeeze the gear oil bottle. I can get about half a quart in, then fill up the bottle with oil from the second gear bottle. Do this two more time.
Not sure if the fluid was ever replaced, but it was not as dark as I thought it would be. She has 119K miles.
Not sure if the fluid was ever replaced, but it was not as dark as I thought it would be. She has 119K miles.
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Tom58 (07-09-18)
06-30-18, 06:56 AM
#37
Lexus Fanatic
not sure if it's been mentioned, but my indie insists the vehicle needs to be level, so he stated this would mean 4 jack stands at home, or sometimes one is able to get under with the vehicle on the ground (my wife's suv). I see pics of people doing work on the diff and tranny on ramps or jacked, so I dunno who is right, or wrong. Never gave it any thought on my Volvo, but one would think level is technically correct...in thinking about this, it would seem level has to do with the notion of filling until overflow, or being able to do that. Otherwise, say with an oil change, we pour the correct amount in....
06-30-18, 07:44 AM
#38
Agree that the car should be level. My garage has a slight incline, so I had built a litte ramp to raise the lower end of the car and keep it level (and add little extra ground clearance).
06-30-18, 08:06 AM
#39
Lexus Fanatic
My wife's SUV is a luxury I guess, I can literally bleed the brakes with the car on the ground....ditto with draining the tranny but it has a dipstick. Have not attempted rear diff or transfer case on her car, it's at 74k....with her car I believe rust could be an issue with getting bolts loosened...
07-09-18, 07:03 PM
#40
Driver School Candidate
03-30-21, 05:21 PM
#45
Instructor
I didn't see a tutorial for a drain and fill on the rear differential for the LS430, so I thought I would take some pictures when i did mine.
Make sure this is done on level ground, if one end is jacked up, you will not be able to fill it the proper amount. Also, it's a good idea to allow the rear to cool off a bit.
Here's a list of things you need:
2 quarts of 75-90w synthetic gear oil (it actually only needs 1.3 quarts)
2 Crush Washers (one for the fill plug and one for the drain plug) I got these at the Lexus dealer, but it's a very standard washer that you could likely find at a lot of different places.
Gear oil dispenser (these screw on the top and make it easier to put the fluid in since you're unable to get the bottle higher than the differential and use gravity
10mm Allen bit and ratchet to unscrew plugs. These are used instead of a traditional hex bolt.
Here is the label on the differential, synthetic only, 75w-90.
Here are the two plugs. the top is the fill and the bottom is the drain.
Unscrew the top plug first. That way you can inspect the level to see if it was low and if you possibly have a leak, and also, if it's stuck, you don't want to find out after all the gear oil has been drained out and it's then immobilized. Depending on how warm it was, a bit will likely dribble out when you unscrew the top plug.
Then unscrew the bottom plug
Fluid will then rush out. My fluid seemed factory fresh for the most part despite the mileage.
The rear plug has a magnetic portion and it did have some powdered metal, but no chips or shards of metal. I cleaned them off then reinserted.
I reinserted the bottom drain plug with a fresh crush washer and the factory recommended torque at 39 ft/lbs.
heI tn took the gear oil and used the above dispenser to fill in the top fill plug. You keep pumping until the differential fills and fluid comes out the fill hole. When one bottle is drained you move the dispenser on to the next one.
Then reinsert plug with a fresh crush washer and torque down to 39 ft/lbs. You should use approximately 1.3 quarts, when mine was all said and done it was 1.5 containers of gear oil.
I would rate this as an easy job, about the same difficulty as an oil change. It's honestly not something that needs to be regularly done on a vehicle like this, but I'm guessing most have never had it done a single time.
Make sure this is done on level ground, if one end is jacked up, you will not be able to fill it the proper amount. Also, it's a good idea to allow the rear to cool off a bit.
Here's a list of things you need:
2 quarts of 75-90w synthetic gear oil (it actually only needs 1.3 quarts)
2 Crush Washers (one for the fill plug and one for the drain plug) I got these at the Lexus dealer, but it's a very standard washer that you could likely find at a lot of different places.
Gear oil dispenser (these screw on the top and make it easier to put the fluid in since you're unable to get the bottle higher than the differential and use gravity
10mm Allen bit and ratchet to unscrew plugs. These are used instead of a traditional hex bolt.
Here is the label on the differential, synthetic only, 75w-90.
Here are the two plugs. the top is the fill and the bottom is the drain.
Unscrew the top plug first. That way you can inspect the level to see if it was low and if you possibly have a leak, and also, if it's stuck, you don't want to find out after all the gear oil has been drained out and it's then immobilized. Depending on how warm it was, a bit will likely dribble out when you unscrew the top plug.
Then unscrew the bottom plug
Fluid will then rush out. My fluid seemed factory fresh for the most part despite the mileage.
The rear plug has a magnetic portion and it did have some powdered metal, but no chips or shards of metal. I cleaned them off then reinserted.
I reinserted the bottom drain plug with a fresh crush washer and the factory recommended torque at 39 ft/lbs.
heI tn took the gear oil and used the above dispenser to fill in the top fill plug. You keep pumping until the differential fills and fluid comes out the fill hole. When one bottle is drained you move the dispenser on to the next one.
Then reinsert plug with a fresh crush washer and torque down to 39 ft/lbs. You should use approximately 1.3 quarts, when mine was all said and done it was 1.5 containers of gear oil.
I would rate this as an easy job, about the same difficulty as an oil change. It's honestly not something that needs to be regularly done on a vehicle like this, but I'm guessing most have never had it done a single time.