Saturday, March 10, 2007 - 06:00 pm, by: Heath Fox(Lilfoxy)
Hey gang, I recently have been having problems with a clicking noise from my rear left wheel (only 0-40km), so i wanted to do a diff oil change to see if any metal parts had chipped off into the oil.
Under the car and started to loosen the refill plug, with great resistance the plug was slowly undoing.. but in the midst of the struggle i now have stripped the hole and the hex key will no longer grip!!
WHAT DO I DO NOW???
When jacked up the wheel moves for a fraction before i feel the resistance of the diff gears... is this normal? OR IS THE DIFF BUGGERED & no point fighting with the oil plug?
Sunday, March 11, 2007 - 02:21 pm, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
Heath,
Do nothing until you find a replacement plug. If you mangle it getting it out you will never get it back in.
Once you have a replacement plug handy, if you can't use Phils method above, you might be able to force a flat blade(flat screwdriver, chisel etc) into the hex recess and get a shifter or vice grips onto the blade and remove it that way. The plug will be no good for anything afterwards though which is why you need the replacement.
Brian Timms TryHard New South Wales TT Soarer Goodness.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 06:52 pm, by: Brian Timms(Turbo_brian)
And failing being able to remove it at all, if your dead keen on replacing the oil, you will need to remove the diff completely.
I had to do this with my 180sx because some clever tosser welded the plug closed on my previous diff, so I removed the diff, got the filler plug off, then emptied the diff that way, wacked in a load of flushing fluid to clean out anything that could still be in there, and then refilled, re-sealed, and re-fitted the diff no worries.
Personally, I NEVER remove the emptying plug until I know I can get the refiller plug off, or have another way of filling the said item.
I also had an issue with my 5 speed manual in the 180sx, where the draining plug was loose enough to drain, but In couldnt for the life of me get the filler plug off (this is where I learn filler first), so I had to remove the gear shifter, and fill via that method (inside the car).
B.
Brian Timms TryHard New South Wales TT Soarer Goodness.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 07:13 pm, by: Brian Timms(Turbo_brian)
Ohhh, and absolute worst case, a champaine cork can get you out of trouble in the EXTEAME SHORT TERM to get you to a wrecker that you have previously confirmed has a diff plug, this worked on my Cordia when I stuffed the gearbox drain plug, which was the same as the diff drain on the FWD Cordia.