I know plenty of people have posted on this before but I changed my diff fluid this weekend and I thought it looked bad enough for me to add one more post on the subject. It looked horrible, black, ugly, and etc. I only have about 6000 mi on my 2000 and Im glad I changed it. My previous car supposedly had lifetime fluid but I changed it anyway at 30K and it still looked muuuuuch better than the S2k's. Anyway to reiterate... if you havent done it, change your fluid, b/c it probly looks like crap.

 

the color of fluid is not a good judge for the condition of it. only tests by a lab like http://www.blackstone-labs.com can tell. my point is, you shouldn't just go by color...

-Shing

 

I emailed Red Line about which of their lubes to use in the trany and differential. Their recommendation is to use MTL in the transmission and 75W90 in the differential. See http://www.redlineoil.com for details.

 

Several Import Car Shops recommend using Honda MTL only for our transmissions. The 75W90 in the diff is okay though. I guess everybody has their reasons.

I use the 5W-30 Redline motor oil in my Stook. I'm sure their other products work just as good.

 

Interesting link Shingles but this site only does a chemical analysis....probably through Spectroscopy. Only one half of what is needed. Oil analysis should really include a particle count, in particular a hard particle count. I will have them test the chemistry when I do mine but will do the hard particle count patch test myself. Thanks for the link.

 

My dealer service deparment mentioned that additives in the diff oil for the limited slip usualy makes the oil very darkish.

 

I had my dealer change my differential fluid yesterday, at 9800 miles. It was extremely black and smelly, much different than the new stuff he was putting in.

Just thought I'd add my data, for what it's worth...

Ted

 

Yea... I know that color and smell wouldnt be the best way to judge the quality but people had the same complaints about the transmission fluid and when my transmission went in for the service bulletin they didnt put a thick, smelly liquid in. I'd rather be safe than sorry.

 

Neither the owners manual nor the shop manual mention anything about additives for the limited slip differential. The only thing Honda recommends on oil change is SAE 90, API GL5 or GL6 hypoid gear oil. I think the dealer was pulling an answer from his/her nether regions. I am using Mobil 1 synthetic SAE75W-90, API GL5, no additives.

 

Actually they do:

check out my webpage: I've had 2 or is it 3 samples done from my Maxima at various mileage. The page is

http://users.ev1.net/~shinglin

-Shing