Diff Oil 2001 Gs430....two Opinions

[IanA2]

I've been told by one person that Lexus do not recommend changing diff oil, and by another it does. Who is right?

If it does, and I think it probably does, then any idea of the quantity/cost?

Thanks.

[MUDGUTS]

I cannot imagine why Lexus do not recommend changing the Diff oil. There has been some talk on various forums about changing the Transmission fluid but that's another matter.

I recently changed the Diff oil on my GS 300. There are some notes in the owners manual about what grade to use, references to a sticker on the diff, etc. Mine didn't have that. I used 2 Litres Fuchs TITAN SINTOPOID SAE 75W-90 Synthetic Gear Oil, it was about £24. I used new seals / washers that cost a couple of quid from Snows Motor Group.

If you are doing the job yourself, it's just possible to get under the car to the Diff if you can raise the rear by a couple of inches. My garage floor is slightly lower than the drive so I just parked the car with the rear wheels on the drive and as the floor is lower I could squeeze in without any jacking / axle stands. Make sure you release the full plug before draining and you will need bottles with those pointy ends on or a syringe to put the new oil in. It takes about 1.4 litres but get 2 to allow for spillage etc.

[IanA2]

Thanks, I have to say that was my view, in fact the two opinions I outlined were both given by garages. I've decided to go with change :)

I've just had the pump, belt and trans oil done. Now just need to sort out my VSV & sunroof leak probs !!

[IanA2]

Diff oil changed and "clunk" is gone!

[MUDGUTS]

Oddly enough my GS 300 was finished off when the diff failed. I heard a massive bang from the rear and assumed I had driven over a brick or something but the diff continued to make some noise and it was obvious that something inside had broken.

When I had my RX 450h in for a major service at Lexus, they did not change the diff oil. 

[ColinBarber]

1 hour ago, MUDGUTS said:

Oddly enough my GS 300 was finished off when the diff failed. I heard a massive bang from the rear and assumed I had driven over a brick or something but the diff continued to make some noise and it was obvious that something inside had broken.

When I had my RX 450h in for a major service at Lexus, they did not change the diff oil. 

All Lexus RWD vehicles need to have their oil changed regularly - every 20k miles. It is part of the standard major service schedule.

The RX450h is a FWD vehicle with an electrically driven RWD using a transaxle system that uses Automatic Transmission Fluid, not gear oil - this isn't regularly changed.

[MUDGUTS]

Thanks Colin, The service manager couldn't offer much of an explanation other than "it doesn't get changed". Such a shame that these days we're so isolated from the guys that work on our cars.

I did get a good deal of a major service which included spark plug replacement, engine and inverter coolant replacement for £825. I wanted to get as much as I could done at the time and I intend to run this car right up to 250k if possible (currently at 154k), hence the query over diff oil.