Differential Fluid

This might be a dumb question but just got a 2016 tacoma limited and was wondering if I should change the differential fluid. The guy said he’s only done oil changes, tire rotations, just like the bare minimum. It has 80k miles and I was wondering if it was one of the things if it’s like high mileage it’s better to just leave alone.

 

Absolutely don’t leave it alone
Change it for sure

 

You can do it at any time without any worries. Use what ever brand you want. 75-90 is what most use. I used Mobil 1 75-90 full synthetic when I changed my Tacos diff fluid

 

I used amsoil severe gear

 

Welcome to Tacoma World. Not a dumb question, and your answer is to definitely 100% change it. I'll add another vote for AMSOIL severe gear, it's good stuff and I have Blackstone analyses to confirm. If you do any offroading with water crossings, look up the popular rear diff breather relocation mod, it's cheap insurance and easy to do.

 

Wouldn't hurt to change it. I've only ever bought used vehicles and day 1 of taking ownership I usually change out all fluids, plugs, and filters just to start a maintenance schedule

 

Change all of the fluids so you have a known starting point. Trust no seller

Rear gear oil should really be changed at under 5k miles to get rid of the breakin nasty of the rear axle. Pinion bearings are known to go under 100k without oil changes.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-maintenance-maps-get-300k-miles.789809/

 

Transfer case while your under there

 

The truck got this far without amsoil....

 

I’m not saying it’s the best or he should use it , I’m saying I did and also put it in my prior rig and I thought it was decent stuff

 

It is good stuff but for most people any normal full synthetic will do just fine and will be cheaper.

 

Just use Mobil 1

 

coolant, front/rear diffs, transfer case, spark plugs, air filter, cabin filter, power steering fluid, brake fluid.

 

Always some amsoil haters on here… use whatever you like but amsoil is good shit

 

Yeah it’ll be cheaper by about $20 for 4 quarts. Mobil 1 is 19.99 quart, Valvoline is around $18 a quart & yeah amsoil severe gear is $24 and some change per quart. You only have to change diff fluids once a year on average. I’ll spend an extra $20 a year for the highest quality. Just my 2 cents. Any of it will work some will work better than others but the main thing is change it with something rated GL-5 for differential. For transmission use a GL5 transmission fluid. if manual use a GL3/GL4 transmission fluid

 

Bookmark this Maintenance Map link. Welcome to TW.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-maintenance-maps-get-300k-miles.789809/

 

With that mileage…..you do have a bit of maintenance that needs to be done

 

Yes.

 

^ this, plus the transmission. (GL4 only if it is a manual gearbox)