Differential Gear Oil Change

Ok, thinking of changing the gear oil but I do not know if I have a limited slip(LS) diff? Seems there are two types of oil, one for LS and without LS Any suggestions? Thanks, Woodcutter

 

Found my own answer.
1. Jack the rear wheels off the ground, be sure to chock the front wheels in front and rear to prevent a mishap, place in neutral and spin one wheel clock wise if the other wheel goes the same direction then you have a LS diff.
2. Tag on pumpkin will have the letter L if limited slip. This advice is according to utube info. Woodcutter

 

Early Tacomas never came with an LSD from the factory. Some came with an e-locker. However, a previous owner could have added an aftermarket LSD unit (as I did).

 

Oh, do NOT overfill your differentials this will cause problems, and loss of time, and many $$$$$ to repair.

 

Did this happen?

 

How do you overfill a differential? You fill it until it comes out the fill port, then close it up. Its literally impossible to overfill lol.

I'm going to assume he meant it was 'under' filled, because yes that will definitely cause problems.

 

Same

 

I guess I could see how overfilling it might cause problems, same as overfilling the engine....but I just don't see how one could physically do that to a differential unless you made your own fill port on the very top of it.

 

If you parked on a decline and put in more than what came out you could overfill it.

 

That's true, hadn't though of that. But parking on level ground is oil change 101 lol. I'm still going with he meant under filled and not over filled...hopefully

 

I'm about to do my own as well (elocker), some posts say 3 quarts, others say 3.1, is that 0.1 REALLY that big of a difference? Using Lucas 75w90 synthetic (if that matters)

 

You just fill it up until it comes out the fill port. That's when you know it's full, however much that takes.

When you drain it, gear oil is thick and some will always stay behind inside the housing and on the gears, etc. It's impossible to say exactly how much you'll need. Just fill it till it's full