Excessive Amount of Metal Shavings in Rear Diff.?

Changed out rear diff fluid today at 29,465 miles. Here's what was on the drain magnet:





Is this something I should be alarmed about?

 

yes.

yes that's slightly alarming. what color was the diff fluid? did it smell bad? have you noticed any grinding or cranking sounds in the rear?

 

yes that is no good at all

Hard to say exactly what that cam off of maybe someone will have a better guess.

 

It was a milky brown color and didn't smell any worse than any other gear oil I've been around. Haven't heard any clanking or grinding noises, ever, but I've only owned it for about 3,000 miles. I bought an extended warranty on it that is good until 11/2017 with a $0 deductible and my factory warranty is good for another 5 days. Anything I can tell Toyota to have them just replace the entire rear diff?

 

take those shavings in with you, when you go to toyota

 

Photos will have to do, they got tossed when I was cleaning up.

 

If it was milky brown then that means you got some water in there. Add that to big chunks of metal falling out an it's just a matter of time until that diff falls apart.

I wouldn't trust it.. it could last 5 miles or 5000.. you just dont know.

I'm changing my rear diff on my van right now for the same reasons. On mine, it appears that I had a leak in the brake drum that allowed water in.

 

I'll definitely bring it to the dealer's attention when I go in to get my wheels replaced this week!

 

Do a brakestand till it blows up . I'd really get them to acknowledge that as a problem, they may try to avoid replacing it when its almost out of the factory warranty. Whats the extended warranty cover?

 

As I read this post, I am shocked.

I take it, that those black chunks of stuff, are metal; as you said they were on the magnet.

If that is so; there is a problem.

Those pieces, look to be a chewed up washer, or shim.

I have rebuild a lot of differentials in my time; and to find pieces like that, is really odd. Something is chewed up; again, to me it looks like a shim of some sort. Shims are used in differentials to adjust the clearance between the ring gear and the pinion, and set the pattern.. Also shims are used on the side gears, to get the proper clearance.

Yes, I would be concerned.

Were they in there at the time of assembly at the factory, no-one knows that. Something may have been left in there; and the ring-gear caught them and chewed them up.

oldracer

 

When I say "milky brown" I mean that it appeared to be just dirty gear oil that was a dark brown and somewhat cloudy, similar to dirty oil but not as dark. It didn't appear to have any water in it from what I could tell.

It covers a lot of things. Nothing mentioned about powertrain or rear differential as items excluded from warranty.

Yes, they are chewed up pieces of metal, and I agree that it looked like a shim or washer as well. I am wondering if it was something left in there myself. If something were happening I would expect to see much finer pieces.

 

You wouldn't see water in there... it mixes with the oil. Has the rear diff breather mod been done?

Powertrain warranty should be 5 yr or 60K miles

 

Those look like manufacturing drill out flakes.

As long as you did not see a ton of small/small flakes/powder like stuff you should be ok.

When you say milky brown do you mean like a melted milk shake? If so that is bad. Water and oil mixed. If that is the case I would run for a few hundred miles and change again. But make sure to do it right after a drive with the oil warm.

 

Good point, no the breather mod has not been done. Good point about powertrain warranty!

Exactly what I was thinking about small flakes. I can see it being factory drill debris now that you say that. What should used gear oil look like? I think my description isn't helping here.

 

I changed mine about the same miles and it looked like slightly dirty engine oil

 

That is exactly what they are - cuttings from machining and tapping the threads in the axle housing. It happens more often then most people realize, and usually they get removed at the first fluid change since the magnet does it's job and holds them out of circulation.

Unless you are having other issues such as whining noises or anything unusual, you can safely carry on with life as you knew it before. Speaking as a heavy duty gear specialist BTW.

 

definitely not normal

TIME TO GO TO THE STEALERSHIP!

 

Thanks for the reassurance and piece of mind. Just one more reason why I already love this forum! TW FTW!

 

This is a better depiction of what mine looked like. Not as dark as used engine oil.

 

I would call this ok but maybe a bit old.







This is bad





I think a good indicator would be if you dip your finger in the oil and you can see your skin it was ok and if you can not then you might have had some water in it. Dirty gear oil can look kind of funky sometimes but as long as you change it you should be good.