Differential oil change, What kind?
#1
06-14-2003, 09:31 AM
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Lehigh Valley, PA
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Differential oil change, What kind?
Time to change my differential fluid. Do I use tranmission fluid or what to refill. I want to change both front and rear boxes. I probably could have found this on the site somewhere, but it seems if you search for "differential", the search engine immediatly kicks back no results. Anyway, brand, type, synthetic, anything would be appreciated. BTW: This is for a 2001 F150 4X4 5.4L with 16k miles on it.
#2
06-14-2003, 01:34 PM
Why do you thnk you need to change the diff fluid after only 16k miles? Did you dunk the diffs in water??
The owners manual says you can can go 100k before changing the fluid, as long as it has NEVER been under water before......
If you want to change the fluid anyway (won't hurt anything), the spec should be in your owners manual. Mine is spec'd for 75w90 for the front and 75w140 SYNTHETIC for the rear. I used AMSOIL that I got from GI Joes. I think it was 2 qts for the front and 3 qts for the rear. You can always just go for the dealers Motorcraft stuff, but they wanted $19.00/qt for the rear end lube!! I got the AMSOIL for $12.00/qt at Joes ($8.00 for the 75w90). You should get a bottle of the "Friction Modifer" from Ford ($5.00) if you have the Limited Slip rear however.
I know there is a specific "spec" for the type of "syn" to use, and when I checked, the AMSOIL had the same spec as the MC stuff..... Sorry, I don't recall the exact figure, but I got it from the parts counter at the Ford dealer.
The owners manual says you can can go 100k before changing the fluid, as long as it has NEVER been under water before......
If you want to change the fluid anyway (won't hurt anything), the spec should be in your owners manual. Mine is spec'd for 75w90 for the front and 75w140 SYNTHETIC for the rear. I used AMSOIL that I got from GI Joes. I think it was 2 qts for the front and 3 qts for the rear. You can always just go for the dealers Motorcraft stuff, but they wanted $19.00/qt for the rear end lube!! I got the AMSOIL for $12.00/qt at Joes ($8.00 for the 75w90). You should get a bottle of the "Friction Modifer" from Ford ($5.00) if you have the Limited Slip rear however.
I know there is a specific "spec" for the type of "syn" to use, and when I checked, the AMSOIL had the same spec as the MC stuff..... Sorry, I don't recall the exact figure, but I got it from the parts counter at the Ford dealer.
#3
06-14-2003, 08:47 PM
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I took a sample out of the front differential and it came out a grey in color (looks like water got in it). Also, the vehicle has been sitting for a long time (only used a couple months in 2½ years), now I am starting to use it as my primary vehicle. The rear differential has synthetic gear oil in and Ford says that it never needs to be changed, but I am putting a new rear aluminum cover on so I need to drain it.. Anyway I found that the info I needed was in the manual just after I posted the question. Thanks for the limited slip info, that's what I have, guess I'll pick up a bottle of the "Friction Modifer" from Ford. I changed the front today and put full synthetic in. Also changed the transfer case ATM fluid with synthetic too. The transfer case fluid was very dark, almost brown. I am going to keep an eye on the tranfer case fluid.