fireball

with the long wkend just gone i decided to change the s2000 diff fluid..
car has done 65000km so it should be 25000km since the fluid was changed by honda (i dont have the service receipt record if they really changed it at 40k , but that is what should be done in our maintenance handbook)
just look at the condition of the fluid

what u need:
jack
jack stand
24mm socket
23mm spanner
oil pan
diff oil 1L
oil/fluid pump


i used the black bottle on the right for diff fluid b4 i realised that mobil1 has 2 synthetic gear lubricants today now i am not sure i used the right one.. does anybody know ???
i asked the question also here
http://forums.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.p...threadid=203260




my diff drain bolt when i unscrewed it stuck full of metal bits


after a quick wipe of the bolt


a few more wipes of the bolt... see all the metal bits still stuck in the groove


further scraping the bolt a bit more ... see some of the metal bits gone now


this is what it should look like clean ... not only that, u can see bits of metal on my cloth and there was more crud than i could show in this picture


the oil pan


anybody for some berri juice ??


more juice ?


how honda can recommend 40000km between diff changes is beyond me
hope i scared everyone into some diff fluid changes

honda9krpm

that's y i got mine changed @ 20k km

#69

Jeebus!!!!!!! Can't believe it's like that after 25K!

Just out of curiosity how much "hard" driving do you do as a percentage, like trackdays and weekend fangs etc?

I know this probably doesn't count for much but when i had the fluid changed at 40K I asked the techie whether there were many metal shavings stuck to the plug (trying to guage the health of the diff) and he said no, however I don't think they take as much interest in it as you or I may and he may just have said it to get me off his back.

fireball

zero trackdays
once to the dragstrip
rev to 9k few times a day on the way to work (road&traffic permitting as i have to go on the highway 100kph zone, after the cars warmed up of course)
clutch dump- extremely rare

dunno if that constitutes me as a hard driver or not

honda9krpm

[QUOTE]Originally posted by fireball
i used the black bottle on the right for diff fluid b4 i realised that mobil1 has 2 synthetic gear lubricants today now i am not sure i used the right one.. does anybody know ???
i asked the question also here

naishou

They are both fine. You'd have to ask Mobil but my guess is that the one on the left is more specifically designed for differentials.

I used to use Castrol SAF-XA which is a little thicker. Any of these quality synthetic lubricants should be better than what Honda puts in provided it is GL-5 and of the right viscosity. You could ask Road Rage what he thinks but you might get a longer answer than you want

fireball

i rang the mobil lube helpline today to see what the story was with the 2 oils..
the one on the left is used for diffs with an lsd.
the one on the right isn't

dammit i put the wrong one in...
finished work early today.. hurried home to change out the diff fluid
the diff fluid still looked as black as the other old fluid b4 but there was much less metal bits on the magnetic drain plug.. oops forgot to take that pic

the powerade bottle is what the oil should look like (i poured some out for comparison)
the middle juice container : is what came out this evening
the juice container on the right is what came out last wk


looks like i might need a few diff fluid flushes to get all the crud out of the diff

naishou

I forgot about the LSD factor. I think you'll find though that although the one on the left is better, the one on the right is also OK. If you check the owner's manual I think it just says GL-5 75W-90. The oil that's better for LSDs has less friction modifier in it so it's actually less slippery and this lets the friction surfaces of the diff work better. However, I don't know to what extent this applies to the Torsen LSD in the S2000. In the end it's probably a good thing that you've flushed your diff, but the crud will be back in no time.

szooo_r

hmmm... just out of interest... can u explain to me how to change the diff fluid...... please....

btw... u used a new toothbrush to clean the plug??

fireball

an excellent write up on diy diff fluid change by xviper is here

http://forums.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.p...&threadid=99995

only took me 40mins to do it.. of which 20mins was waiting for the diff oil to drip out...
the only pain in the ass part is pumping the fluid into the diff using the small pump and being bitten by mozzies whilst under the car

and no that isnt a new toothbrush.. if u look carefully the blue indicator is more than 1/2 worn