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I am a DIY'er for the most part so I don't want to jump to conclusions on this issue. Back story, I brought the car in for an oil change, trans fluid flush and rear diff fluid change. I figured that I might as well get it all done and save me the mess at home.
Today I was doing my rear struts and noticed how oil free the differential looked. I am sure that the pros make less of a mess than I do but can there be really no oil spillage on the diff itself during the drain or fill? To me this is way to clean to have actually been done only 3 months ago. Am I being crazy?
Doesn't look like it. Looks like somebody used a chisel on your drain plug it, might be stripped. Maybe they gave up on it. I'd get a new drain plug and gasket. I had a stripped one on my GX eventually had a pro remove it with air chisel.
They definitely did not remove that plug....... Maybe they sucked it out through the fill.
BTW! I would call them about this and ask how they did the job without removing the drain plug.
This is the biggest problem with getting your car serviced by anyone other than yourself, you just don't know if they're honest. By the looks of it I'd say no they didn't drain from that plug, but there is some sort of stain on that diff...perhaps they sucked it out from the fill hole? Doubt it because there would be more staining than that.plus it's a pain to suck out fluid from a fill hole, the differential gets in the way of placing the tube in the housing. And wow I've never seen so much rust on a differential, the only thing I can compare it to is a 20 year old pickup. Do you park the car on a gravel driveway or grass?
I have owned the car for only a few months but all indications say that the car was garaged by the previous owner. I am out on Long Island, near the water, so everything I own rusts pretty quick. I took some lower quality pics of the fill plug and there is no staining there either. I will send the service advisor an email and see what he has to say. I don't understand how a business can charge you for a service and blatantly not deliver. Thanks for the input and you are welcome for the rust ****.
If they have you come back in to service it again I think I would follow the example suggested above and mark a line on the plug with a grease pen or sharpie.
If you spray it with a brake cleaner, it would look pretty clean. Would the dealer do that? Is there any scratch inside the socket? Marking it with a screw driver would do it.
Diff fluid change, did it actually happen?
