front diff. fluid change?

Ok I have a question about fluid changes for the front differential. Does the fluid in the front diff. carry over from the transmission.. So filling one fills the other? If not is it a difficult change? I would like to make sure its getting changed properly. Oh and please forgive my ignorance if what I'm asking is a lame question.

[benebob]

No it is not the same. I think it takes about 1.3 quarts of gear oil. There is a section about changing it in your owners manual. The bolt is accessable better from the pass side of the car and is bigger than the bolt for the tranny fluid (17 vs 19mm I think). Besides you'll know it b/c there isn't a huge pan and if red stuff comes out. I'd change the rear as well if you're doing one of them. It is kinda hard on the SVX unless you have a lift or air tools.

[lee]

The fluids should not interchange, if it does, then there's a problem. The transmission uses ATF, the differential uses gear lube.

There is a drain plug on the differential. Once you're under there I think it's kinda obvious, but some of the dumber shops have been know to pull the engine drain plug or transmission drain plug. Yes, there's three of them under there. It's really pretty easy once you have the car up on ramps or whatever you use to get under there (please don't just use a jack, at least jack it up and use a jack stand - it will make me feel much better, had a relative spend 12 years in a coma before dying - from a car falling on him). If I remember correctly it's a 17mm wrench you're needing to remove the plug.

If you drain the front diff you will need approximately 2.6 pints (so ya gotta buy 2 qts if you're doing this over the counter). You refill through the dipstick of the right side - if you haven;t seen it, it's behind the engine and down about half way, not to easy to spot unless you look (not like the transmission or regular oil dipsticks).

edit: benebob beat me to the answer. He's probably right, you might want to make sure you have 17 & 19mm wrenches before beginning. If you do the rear, make sure you take out the fill plug before taking out the drain

Thanks for the quick reply! Is there a color I should expect the gear oil to be so I can properly freak out when it turns out not to be that color?

[benebob]

Brown-black and thick

[lee]

just like motor oil, but should be cleaner, closer to looking like new oil. It will probably have a distinctinve smell, as least most gear lubes do to me.

Your choice of course, but I put back in Mobil-1 75W-90 gear lube when I changed mine. I figured that since synthetics do a better job of shearing protection under load, sounded just right for a differential, but hey, just an opinion.