I just did a rear diff fluid change on my s2000 (02) it has about 23,XXX miles...this is the first time i did one...owners manual says 15,000 for the first one....did i wait too long??? possible damage??? fluid was dark..and had some gray thick gunk around (surrounding) magnetic drain plug...normal????

(spirited driver)



thanks in advance

Jay

 

YOUR DIFF IS HOSED!

I'm kidding.

First off diff fluid starts off pretty dark to begin with.

Second the gray gunk as you called it is metal particles and is normal depending on how much of it there was.

As to whether it was damaged or not... no way to know that unless you open the diff or it breaks. I'd say you probably didn't hurt anything unless you drive like an asshat, in which case it would have been damaged anyway.

But, there's no way for anyone here to say yes or no to damage. And then it could simply be your driving habits/style that caused damage if their is any.

If its not making funny noises you're probably O.K. If you did find any large particulate matter (chunks of metal) when you drained the fluid, you're probably O.K. There should only be a fine particles come out (that gray gunk you mentioned). I'd say anything bigger than a grain of sand and you might want to worry.

 

isn't 15K the "severe" interval? I think the regular interval is 30K.

 

sweet..actually i did just check into that...15K is for severe, and 30K for normal...i guess i did it at a perfect time then, b/c the way most of us drive, it would be between normal and severe lol


thanks guys!!!


Jay

 

Since our diffs are so fragile its not a bad idea to change it every 1 year or sooner depending on how much you drive. I plan on changing my tranny and diff fluid every spring when I get my car out of storage.

 

I changed it at about 20k.

Man I still have nightmares over that horrid smell!

 

Nice wheels man.!!!
What are they?

 

for real! it smells like yack! LOL

 

Did mine at 4k, it was completely trashed from break-in.

Afterwards, it comes out quite clean at 20k miles.

 

Nice... OEM wheels with fill-ins painted black.