2016 Charger AWD with 63,000 miles - changed original front differential fluid dark and nasty smelling

[wwillson]

Today I changed the front differential fluid in our 2016 AWD Charger. The fluid was the original factory fill. Since there is no drain plug, I used my Mityvac to suck it out. The Mityvac is a wonderful tool!

The fluid came out dark and really stunk like it was oxidized, which it could have been because the front diff is connected to the oil pan and runs at engine temperature. This front diff fluid is supposed to be lifetime fill, which after seeing the shape it was in, I strongly disagree that it's a good idea to run it for the lifetime of the car.

The fill plug is a bit hard to get to, but with is manageable with my friend's lift

HPL Differential Life 75w-90 is the replacement fluid, which I will change at 150,000 miles.

 

[spasm3]

Today I changed the front differential fluid in our 2016 AWD Charger. The fluid was the original factory fill. Since there is no drain plug, I used my Mityvac to suck it out. The Mityvac is a wonderful tool!

The fluid came out dark and really stunk like it was oxidized, which it could have been because the front diff is connected to the oil pan and runs at engine temperature. This front diff fluid is supposed to be lifetime fill, which after seeing the shape it was in, I strongly disagree that it's a good idea to run it for the lifetime of the car.

The fill plug is a bit hard to get to, but with is manageable with my friends lift

HPL Differential Life 75w-90 is the replacement fluid, which I will change at 150,000 miles.

Mity vac sounds very handy.

Did you use the mity vac on your truck rear diff too? Or did you pull the cover?

 

[wwillson]

Did you use the mity vac on your truck rear diff too? Or did you pull the cover?

I used the Mityvac, since I didn't want to pull the diff cover and the new Chevy HD differentials don't have a drain plug, grrr...

 

[WylieCoyote]

Just another automaker doing it wrong. Ford has the same situation going on with the Escape. No fluids should be treated as "lifetime" when the truth is that they call it "lifetime" to make it attractive to buyers, when the prescribed maintenance schedule is actually damaging the components at a rate to just get you past warranty before they fail.

 

[Schandyman]

Never have I smelled old diff fluid that would make you want another sniff. Nasty stinky stuff especially that Ford friction modifier

 

[ctechbob]

Never have I smelled old diff fluid that would make you want another sniff. Nasty stinky stuff especially that Ford friction modifier

God yes, this brings back memories from when my office was right next to the boss's race shop. They would come back Monday having run a race with completely cooked fluid since, for some reason they didn't, or couldn't run a cooler. It smelled so bad that I practically had to leave until they disposed of the oil. Even then it was ghastly. After a few races of that, they finally did a cooler and it wasn't nearly as bad. Still wasn't great, but at least you could deal with it.

 

[Oro_O]

Never have I smelled old diff fluid that would make you want another sniff. Nasty stinky stuff especially that Ford friction modifier

The stink is usually sulfur, which is used in compounds to create the "extreme pressure" additive package for differentials. It's normal, whether the fluid has LSD additive or not.

There's a real debate about changing fluids in the Volvo community. Volvo says the AWD gearcase fluids are lifetime. VW/Audi, who use the exact same Haldex units, say to change the fluid every 40k miles. Volvo units occasionally fail at high mileage. Not so much with VW units. Anyone wonder why?

 

[930.engineering]

.
I know this horse has been beaten to death, but I still agree with others,
there is no 'lifetime fill' existing, except 'lifetime fill' defines the lifetime
of the component the 'lifetime fill' should prevent from premature wear.
I use to change any oil on any new car just a couple of thousand miles
after it left the factory. There's still no clean manufacturing existing, there
is still some residue and then there's also break-in. You don't want to drag
this dirt along for 60 kmls as it will increase wear and will even accelerate
aging of that so-called 'lifetime fill'.
.

 

[Leo99]

Never have I smelled old diff fluid that would make you want another sniff. Nasty stinky stuff especially that Ford friction modifier

The transfer case in my wife's old Rav4 started to leak do I figured I'd replace the fluid. First time at 240,000 miles. Had a bit to drink the night before and was feeling it the next morning. Was not ready for the revolting stench of used gear fluid laying on my back under the vehicle. Got some on my clothes, too. I'm replacing the fluid on the 2020 Rav4 this weekend.

 

[oldhp]

Ucky yucky at 63K miles. I'll change it at 150K miles. 87K miles this time???

 

[Schandyman]

whether the fluid has LSD additive or not.

The stink is true however the Ford friction modifier has a stank of it's own even new in the bottle.

 

[wwillson]

The stink is usually sulfur, which is used in compounds to create the "extreme pressure" additive package for differentials.

BTW - the HPL Differential Life doesn't smell like sulfur, it smells more like engine oil. @High Performance Lubricants why doesn't the gear lube smell like sulfur?

 

[pghvolvo]

There's a real debate about changing fluids in the Volvo community. Volvo says the AWD gearcase fluids are lifetime. VW/Audi, who use the exact same Haldex units, say to change the fluid every 40k miles. Volvo units occasionally fail at high mileage. Not so much with VW units. Anyone wonder why?

I changed out the rear differential in my 97 960 at 66K and it looked like chocolate milk and smelled really bad. Again here we go with life time fill argument. It's the life time of the warranty. I don't care what the manufacture says, transmissions and differentials should be changed out at least every sixty thousand miles.

 

[wpod]

Who woulda thunk it..

 

[Schandyman]

I changed out the rear differential in my 97 960 at 66K and it looked like chocolate milk and smelled really bad. Again here we go with life time fill argument. It's the life time of the warranty. I don't care what the manufacture says, transmissions and differentials should be changed out at least every sixty thousand miles.

Pretty much rule of thumb I see 60k tranny service. When my father was shop manager for private garage he would recommend 60k tranny service, drain fill & filter. After 60k and or not knowing the vehicles previous maintenance plan he would suggest just a drain and refill.

 

[JTK]

I've never drained a front diff that wasn't nasty. I don't know if it's from not being loaded hard on pickups and larger SUVs, or is it from being packed closer to heat sources?

Same with PTUs and T-cases on small FWD based vehicles. The transfer case on our 2019 Nissan Pathfinder runs between the front right CV shaft and the transaxle and only holds a few ounces of gear oil. It gets really ugly.

 

[Chris Meutsch]

The stink is usually sulfur, which is used in compounds to create the "extreme pressure" additive package for differentials. It's normal, whether the fluid has LSD additive or not.

When I changed my diffs and transfer case around 60k, they all smelled like rotten eggs. Can't wait to do it again at 100k!

 

[High Performance Lubricants]

BTW - the HPL Differential Life doesn't smell like sulfur, it smells more like engine oil. @High Performance Lubricants why doesn't the gear lube smell like sulfur?

We do not use a traditional Sulfur Phosphorus additve package in our gear oils. There is sulfur in there but it is in a different form than free sulfur. The icing on the cake is even though we publish a 400kg weld load this oil routinely runs a 600kg weld. That being said our street gear oil is what we use in sprint cars, Pro Stock, Pro Mod, and Street Outlaws. That’s some serious power on a street gear oil. The low activity of the Sulfur also yields a 1A on D-130 so it can be used for GL-5 as well as GL-4 applications without bothering yellow metals.