How Too Change Front And Rear Diff Oil

[central coast person]

Disclaimer: This information is provided for your information only, anything you choose to do with this information is completely up to you and in no way will I, Skylines Australia or any affiliates be held accountable for following said actions, causing damage or harm to you or your car.

Aim: To change front and rear differential fluids. Most skylines have very old fluids in there diffs and need changing and will do wonders as Nissan diffs seem to get very loose around the 100,000km mark. Changing fluid will help tighten your LSD up without going into the shiming process.

Car: The model i did this on was a r33 series 1.5 GTS-4. It counts for all r33 and r34 LSD equiped skylines. Im not sure about r32 as i have not had the chance too look but i presume it too be the same. Any questions about your model i wil try an answer as i have mates cars that i can refrence too.

Difficulty and time:

Low - Medium (depending on how stuck your bung plugs may be). It can take from 30min - 2hours (again depending on the bung plugs.

Materials/Equipment Needed:

You will need

- 1/2" ratchet as this is the size for the bung plugs

- 80w-140 Gear oil (My bottle was roughly 3.9L and i had about a liter left)

- Transfer pump or 2 Meters or tubing and a funnel. Tape the funnel around the tubing and poor it in while the funnel is higher than the filler hole in the diff

- Oil catch tub

(Things that will help you that bit extra)

- Rags

- Trolley jack

- Car stands

- Extention bar

- WD40

- Warm car

Tips

1). Best go for a 15 min drive to heat the diff up a bit. The drive does not make the car hot underneath orthe diffs but if you have a stainless steel or titanium exhaust system the tight space may make things a little hot around the rear diff filler hole. Just get a rag and wrap that section of the exhaust where the bung plug sits too the right off.

2). When taking the plugs off, always remove the filler hole first as it can leave you in tuff situations if you cant get it off or thread the plug.

3). It helps if you have a spare person on hand if your not using stands. Two people can use force on the rachet, one pulls the other pushes. I didnt use stands so used the 'technique' for one of the plugs as the exhaust most likely heated it up to the point of it feeling like it had been welded on.

4). Stands will allow you too use breaker bars and extention bars if your a one man army and it saves you a lot of time and swearing.

Step By Step:

THE REAR LSD

1). Firstly get some WD40 and spray the rear diff bung plugs and let ot soak in. You can also tap them around

Picture of drain bung on rear diff, spray with WD40.

Picture of filler bung on rear diff, spray with WD40

2). Now crack the plugs.................. First the filler plug, then the drain plug

Picture of filler bung plug on rear diff. You can see the tight fit it was with my exhaust system only being a few inches away. It took me about an hour to break the seal on this plug as i would asume the exhaust heat helped it practly weld itself too the thread. This is where i used my 'technique'.

Once thats cracked, move onto the drain hole.

Picture of drain plug. It was simple to crack this one. Make sure you have your oil tub under it too catch the oil that comes out.

3). Now let the oil drain for a few minutes. Mine was definatly past its used by date and was also very thin which concerned me.

In the mean time check your drain plug for metal. Mine was fairly clean with the plug only having mercury fine metal shavings on it and one small metal piece no bigger than 2mm.

4). Now you put the drain plug in and go get your bottle of oil and transfer pump or funnel pipe thingy and simply fill the diff from the filler hole.

You want too keep filling it untill the oil starts too trickle from the filler hole. Once it starts too trickle have your filler plug on stand by.

Thats simply the rear diff done. It was about 1.6L front is a bit less

THE FRONT DIFF

1). Firstly get some WD40 and spray the front diff bung plugs and let ot soak in. You can also tap them around

You can see the top one in green and the bottom one in yellow. They are simple too get too, on the driver side of the sump and come off with force.

2). - 4). (Simply refer too the steps of the rear diff as its the same just in different and easier location. The diff took 1.2L of oil.)

It should look like this while filling)

Hope this helps anyone wanting too chage there diff oil. Im not too sure about the r32's because i know they do have a different PartNo. for the diff but i would presume all skylines would have the bung plugs near the same position on most differentials. Any questions just PM me.

Created by Central coast person

[Duncan]

good DIY! and r32 is the same.

[central coast person]

Well if the r32 is the same then im going too say both diff's used from the r32 and r33-r34 should mean this applies too all the LSD's used by skylines

[WYTSKY]

awesome write up mate... I will do this in the next few weeks, Don't know if its ever been done on the car!

so you rekon 80 140? just outa curiosity... for a car with more power should it be something else or will that viscosity suit all?

[central coast person]

awesome write up mate... I will do this in the next few weeks, Don't know if its ever been done on the car!

so you rekon 80 140? just outa curiosity... for a car with more power should it be something else or will that viscosity suit all?

Cheers

Well as you can see my oil was very old. I dont think its been done before because my bung plugs looked like they had not been touched unlike my gearbox ones where you can see markings.

Because its a LSD it will need a ticker oil (80w-140 or 85w-140) oppose too SAE90 or 70w-90 gear and differential oils which are the thinner based oils for more standard diffs. The only thing about 80w-140 is its synthetic and 85w-140 is mineral so your probily going too have too use 80w-140 if you really want a good oil. Redline is used in 600KW car without a problem, same with nulon and motul so there are a few brands too choose from.

EDIT: when using a mineral oil or even some syntheticsl you need too add a product called nulon N70. It has polytetrafluoroethylene which some oils have (Redline 80w-140 and Nulon 80w-140 or 75w-140 from Motul) you will have to contact the manufactuer about there 80w-140 too make sure.

Edited April 18, 2010 by central coast person

[central coast person]

He guys, just got some info at work (Nissan). We now have the english literal translated catalouges for most skylines. Checked our skyline catalouges and interpreted all oils too suit our conditions ...........

R32 Standard rear diff - 75w-90

R33 Standard rear diff - 75w-90

R34 Standard rear diff - 75w-90

R32 LSD (rear diff) - 80w-140 or 75w-140

R32 Front open diff - 80w140 or lightweight shockproof which is a 30w-140 also can use 80w-90 as a cheaper option but only for street use as the viscosity range is shorter than 80w-140

R33 LSD (rear diff) - 80w-140 or 75w-140

R33 Front open diff - 80w140 or lightweight shockproof which is a 30w-140 also can use 80w-90 as a cheaper option but only for street use as the viscosity range is shorter than 80w-140

R34 LSD (rear diff) - 80w-140 or 75w-140 If you have a helical diff you should use only 75w-90

R34 Front open diff - 80w140 or lightweight shockproof which is a 30w-140 also can use 80w-90 as a cheaper option but only for street use as the viscosity range is shorter than 80w-140

Hope this clears all oil questions