Missed my Honda CRV rear differential fluid change by 5K miles

[Owen Lucas]

Rear diff fluid must be changed between 15k - 20k miles. I went to 25K since my engine oil % wasn't low enough, never bothered to look up the 6 meant in the B16 code on the maintenance screen was (change rear diff fluid). Could this have caused harm to the rear diff? I think the CRV is FWD biased unless you accelerate hard, then it seems to put more power to the rear wheels (according to the dashboard awd graphic)/ I presume the diff doesn't work that hard most of the time so maybe damage was averted? I am a little surprised the fluid needs to be changed so early but the service advisor stated this is a break-in fluid and wont need a change for another 50k IIRC.

 

[DuckRyder]

It is totally fine.

 

[Rand]

Edit nevermind I read the owners manual.

 

[ctechbob]

There's probably tons of CRV's out there that go to the grave having never been changed. You'll be just fine.

 

[mightymousetech]

There's probably tons of CRV's out there that go to the grave having never been changed. You'll be just fine.

And the rear tires will be hopping and chattering on every sharp turn.

 

[Hall]

Don't lose sleep over it. Get it changed and continue on.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Go to your room and think about what you've done, young man.

 

[JimPghPA]

If it caused a problem the clutches would not slip in turns, and the rear wheels would chirp on turns. There is a YouTube video on how to fix this. You change the fluid, and then drive backwards in circles both left and right turning. That should free up the clutches so they work correctly.

But if it is not chirping on turns then you did not damage it.

 

[HankHill]

Holy crap I hope this is a joke..

 

[JavierH19]

i have a friend who bough a used tacoma with its rear diff oil never being changed in 330 something thousand miles and it was fine. oil was just death from what he told me but the diff was ok. no noise. you'll be perfectly fine.

 

[Ursatdx]

Rear diff fluid must be changed between 15k - 20k miles. I went to 25K since my engine oil % wasn't low enough, never bothered to look up the 6 meant in the B16 code on the maintenance screen was (change rear diff fluid). Could this have caused harm to the rear diff? I think the CRV is FWD biased unless you accelerate hard, then it seems to put more power to the rear wheels (according to the dashboard awd graphic)/ I presume the diff doesn't work that hard most of the time so maybe damage was averted? I am a little surprised the fluid needs to be changed so early but the service advisor stated this is a break-in fluid and wont need a change for another 50k IIRC.

Have your husband keep an eye on the scheduled maintenance from now on.
It's less stressful.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Just change it now or at the next oil change

 

[Hall]

i have a friend who bough a used tacoma with its rear diff oil never being changed in 330 something thousand miles and it was fine.

Apparently it's pretty critical that the fluid be changed in these particular Honda diffs.

 

[JimPghPA]

There are YouTube videos on how to do that rear-end fluid change. It is not hard to do. It requires about 1 and 1/2 quarts of the Honda Guanine Duel Pump Fluid II ( which is the ONLY fluid that should be used in a Honda rear-end differential ). And you definitely should use a torque wrench to tighten the drain and over-flow bolts. OEMPartSource.com is a good place to buy the fluid and crush washers.

 

[justalubetech]

Tons of them go 200k+ on the original fluid (albeit probably chattering on sharp turns, but owners don't seem to care). I'm all about regular fluid changes but I think the 10-15k intervals is a bit overkill on these.

(I've even seen them pop the '6' code with less than 10k miles on the car, trying to tell an owner they need to change their diff fluid on a brand new car always ends up fun lol)

 

[tyman]

It’s dead. Time for junkyard.

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

Even the guy the regeared and rebuilt my differential told me that either change the diff fluid after a few hundred miles or just wait until you want to. Doesn't seem to matter. He's done hundreds of regears and trains guys for the big box off road places apparently.

 

[Revving2Redline]

Our 2019 CRV AWD had #6 go off and found out it was based on time, not wear. That was at 16,000 miles so at 18xxx when oil change was due we had both fluids changed.

 

[KrisZ]

Go to your room and think about what you've done, young man.

No dinner of course

 

[UncleDave]

Just change it.
You dont want to let it go forever, but 5K isn't a big deal, but you do want clean fluid in there of you could prematurely wear the clutch packs.

The hardest part of the job is the initial loosening of the bolt put in by sasquatch, it's an easy or cheap job.
Crack the fill bolt before the drain bolt so you dont brick the car if you cant get the fill bolt out.
I used a jack handle over the wrench the first time.

On the ridgeline you use the wrench drive itself without a socket.

Make sure you use the appropriate fluid - VTM4, is not Dual Dump II and vice versa. Many online sources get this wrong.