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Agree. For the engine, most dealers use "mystery motor oil" out of a 55-gallon drum hidden in the back room that is pumped thru a delivery system to the workstation ... and then charge the customer Toyota branded product pricing. Why not ... the vehicle only needs to last thru the warranty period as far as the dealer is concerned, with the customer having no clue as to the difference.
stopped at Pohanka Lexus chantilly, VA and this is what they are selling for TC and differential.
I am thinking Mobil1 75w90 and Ravenol 75W. Will this be ok?
Mine is 2015 GX460. Manual says 75W for TC and 75w-85 for RD/FD. If lexus dealer isn't putting the recommended one, I am ok to deviate as per the forum.
Parts department also mentioned, you can use 75W-80 or 75W-90..... difference of 5 doesn't matter.
@Anmol101 I used the Ravenol 75w for the TC 75w-85 for the diffs on my 11 460 at 120k couple months ago. Have close to 10K miles on the truck with the Ravenol oils and found no issues. Ravenol is much cheaper than toyota liquid gold TC fluid.
I have few quarts of Ravenol left with me, I stay in herndon, if you are closeby or need any help with changing the fluids feel free to hit me up.
Loki, thanks for offering the unused oil, yeah I am in Ashburn... so 15 mins drive from you. PM me your number so we can sync up, sure I’ll take your unused oil. I am also planning for Transmission replacement, let me know if you are interested and we can knock it out together.
Ravenol MTF-3 75W is a replacement for both Toyota transfer case fluid part numbers 08885-81080
and 08885-81081 for the following Toyota 4Runner 4WD model fitments.
Ordering direct from Blauparts is $9 cheaper (for me) than Amazon for 2 quarts. (no sales tax)
@BigLClub yup, directly ordering from Blauparts is much cheaper than Amazon and their basic free shipping is also super quick. I ordered from them twice and both times, I received the oils in 2 days.
It gets quite technical and interesting. But it seems to come down the issue of the OEM viscosity is lower for 75W than other manufacturers 75W or 75-85W GL4 fluid.
This is less a gear oil, than a transmission fluid as LGXF pointed out.
Reminds me of the old days when my VW used gear oil in the MT's. Where Honda used motor oil or ATF in their MT's.
This past weekend I decided to go ahead and replace front, rear diff and T-case fluids. (my GX has ~ 140K km / 88K miles) I am no stranger to doing this service since I have done it multiple times in my Land Cruiser previously. but what got me (like most already found out) is the front diff. drain plug. It was stuck SOLID! 7 years of harsh Canadian winters plus an obvious design flaw (more on this later) and it would not budge.
I, naively, tried a breaker bar with some penetrating oil. Then upgraded to a professional-grade impact wrench (a 1000 lbs.ft beast!). No dice! I applied heat with a MAPP torch, no luck. Eventually stripped the Allen hex in the process. So, I headed to the local Toyota dealer 💀💀and bough a new plug in anticipation of the next step.
I then welded an old bolt in the recess of the drain plug and immediately the plug came loose. The heat from the welding process loosened it right up. and I finished the service in both axles and the T-case without any more drama.
The problem with this new style drain plug is clear. the Allen head design makes the force concentrated in the center of the plug, which doesn't produce enough torque to loosen it, specially in a plug with a large diameter like this. Unlike the standard (and tried!) 24mm hex head plugs which give good torque on the plug and takes it out with reasonable force.
What aggravates the problem is the "lip" surrounding the Allen drain plug (both drain and fill plugs have this lip around). This creates a recess to trap dirt and rust making removal even harder.
As you can see, the threads on the plug I took are perfectly clean and rust-free, while the perimeter of the head is all rusty, which supports what I mentioned above.
For remedial work and to make removal easier in the future, I filled the gap between the plug and the lip with thick Silicone grease, which doesn't wash away with water. This will keep dirt and rust out, hopefully until the next service (see last photo)
There is a replacement 24mm plug available from Australia Ebay (used on the HiLux, which suffers the same problem), which is another alternative.
Another few tips I thought of sharing after reflecting back:
1- If you found the plug stuck beyond using a breaker bar, STOP and look for other plans to take it out.
2- Next step is to use heat. For heat application, I used MAPP gas but with a regular Propane nozzle. This is not enough and doesn't generate enough heat to make any difference. I later found a great nozzle made by BenzoMatic that will produce excellent heat enough to break it free and it works with both Propane or MAPP bottles. Looks up "TS8000"
3- If you decide to weld a bolt or nut to it, please remember to disconnectthe truck battery, that is BOTHcables, negative and positive (I did) to prevent damaging any sensitive electronics. Also keep the ground clamp as close as possible to the drain plug, where you are going to weld. It looks like whoever designed the front diff, knew that a welder maybe used at some point as there is a perfectly flat (and fat!) metal tab conveniently located right next to the plug where you can place the welder ground clamp. See photos.
I used Red Line oil for the front and rear axles and Toyota T-Case fluid for the transfer case. Luckily, all fluids that came out of the truck looked quite clean for the 140K kms service they did.
Good luck!
Welding a bolt to the buggered drain plug
Welded on
Threads perfectly clean. Rust on the head only
New plug with Silicone grease filling the recess around it
I had a similar problem opening the bolts on the front diff. Breaker bar with a big azz Crescent wrench on the end of it. Definitely had a "Pop" to it.
Here the fix....DON'T put the plug back in with a impact gun//breaker bar. 50-60ft/lbs with a new gasket is plenty. It's not holding up a bridge!
I used the Ravenol per GX-Bob for the transfer case. I double checked with him as he had a few months with it. SFSG on it.
The front//rear diff oil with 70K on it definitely needed to be changed. It was a lil "watery" and the mag plugs were gunked up.
The transfer case wasn't bad probably could have gone 100K. But it's all zeroed out now for another 60K.
03-19-21, 07:40 PM
