is this normal for diff bung, and rumble cured.

Well bit of a mixed bag today.

Got the square peg into the round hole and..
Drained the oil from the front differential, what came out was Black as coal, so probably had never been done in 134,000 Miles.
Don't think the previous owners did much maintenance work.
The manual says 1.7 litres to fill the diff, Got 2.5 Litres out, and took 3.25 Litres to fill, odd?

Have a look at the pictures below, it's the bung from the front diff.
There are tiny metal shards sticking out of about 2mm of a greasy sort of paste.
Now it is what it is, and I'm not going to do anything about it.
But is that normal?

Diff on the way out probably last another 80,000 Miles?
Or
Start saving for a new diff?

The good news is the rumble that was coming from the front has totally gone away after I greased the prop shafts so yay a result.
Almost finished it's pre Winter preperations, rear diff oil change to go and a service.



bung 3 by Sovereign125a, on Flickr


Bung 1 by Sovereign125a, on Flickr

its not unusual ,shows lack of oil change though , if you have no other diff issues i wouldnt worry

You were on level ground when you filled the diff i take it. If so it is not possible to get that much oil into it. Look out for leaks from the axle oil seals with that much oil in it. If you fill the diff using the level plug as a guide you MUST be on level ground to do it.

Glad to hear the shards aren't unusual, and my diff seems to be okay.

I did have a little lift on the front to fill the diff.
So just now to check, opened up the fill plug on level ground, and got .5 of a Litre out.
So that makes about 2.7 in and 2.5 out. Still a good bit off spec.

sovereign said:

Glad to hear the shards aren't unusual, and my diff seems to be okay.

I did have a little lift on the front to fill the diff.
So just now to check, opened up the fill plug on level ground, and got .5 of a Litre out.
So that makes about 2.7 in and 2.5 out. Still a good bit off spec.

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There should not be more than 1.7 litres in the diff, if the car is on level ground it should not be possible to get 2.7 litres into it. With the car on level ground and 2.7 litres of oil in it, oil should be gushing out of the level plug hole.

sovereign said:

Glad to hear the shards aren't unusual, and my diff seems to be okay.

I did have a little lift on the front to fill the diff.
So just now to check, opened up the fill plug on level ground, and got .5 of a Litre out.
So that makes about 2.7 in and 2.5 out. Still a good bit off spec.

Click to expand...

You must have massive special diff's or not filling from correct hole

You are measuring it right? 2.7 pints, not litres?

Bix said:

You are measuring it right? 2.7 pints, not litres?

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That would make more sense 1.7 litres is around 3 pints.

Could there be that much metal gone off the diff allowing for the extra oil
Yup always possible I made a mistake.

There is just over 2 Litres left in the 5 Litre can plus the .5 that was drained out.
Leaves about 2.5 Litres for the fill. Maybe the can wasn't full to begin with.
Wasn't paying attention to the seal, but was just bought from the motor factors.

One thing is for sure you can't fit 2.5 Litres into a 1.6 Litre hole.
Have to do the rear one yet so will measure it better, but my guess is the new can wasn't full.

Did the rear diff today, on level ground.
2 litres exactly removed, strangely only 1.8 to fill.
So a lot closer to the book figures.
Absolutely foul oil this time, but no metal shards on the magnet.

Why does your car always seem to go better if you have just carried out a load of maintenance, but on stuff that doesn't affect how it goes?

Just put car on level ground raise it up open boot clamber under undo level plug and recheck front

What oil'd you use?

Using this thread just to plug an old outstanding question:
Are all diff plugs magnetic ? A few months ago I replaced the diff oil in my 2.5 DSE and both diff plugs were absolutely clean, no metal shards, which led me to believe that possibly mine weren't magnetic (but i forgot to check while they were out :doh

no they arent all magnetic

rasheed said:

What oil'd you use?

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Just used an off the shelf 75w90 semi synth oil.
Never spend much on oils, buy cheap change frequently.
Works for me.

yeah my philosophy too but doesn't extend to diffs! cheers.