hondarulez

I sold my 03 and bought an 04 with 22000 miles. 11 years later, today, I did the diff fluid, and it was the same things as my 03 (dirtiness). It has never been done before for sure.

Chuck S

According to the 2004 owners manual, but I'm pretty sure it's the same for all our cars, the differential oil change interval is 30,000 miles -- or every two years! (Or 15,000 miles/one year for severe service.) The Maintenance Minder ('06 and later) probably lights every 30,000. Annual won't hurt even for normal service. I did mine last summer and will again this summer and I'll probably only have 5000 miles on it but it's less than a quart of oil. $20 and 20 minutes.

-- Chuck

zeroptzero

Yeah it's cheap maintenance. I've stretched mine to once every two driving seasons as my wear numbers were so low - about 5,000 miles in two years - from once a year. lol.

fernando.

I'm overkill with maintenance.

Engine oil every 5,000km's (3,100 miles)
Transmission and diff at the start of every season and I only do about 15,000km's (9,300miles) every season.

nissanfanatic

33k miles... So basically two years of use given average miles.

I don't think age of fluid really matters on gearboxes like it does engines.

zeroptzero

The meshing action of gears will shear any fluid, so the fluid thins out over time. Not too much of an issue if you start out with a decent viscosity like SAE 110, 75w-110, and 75w-140. If you start with a fluid that is on the thinner side of the spec like 75w90 then I would pay closer attention to the change intervals and keep it to 15k miles max. The diff is one part where metal wear is directly releated to fluid viscosity (inversely), with the small sized diff sump (less than one quart) I prefer not to push the drain intervals. Just my opinion.

Vitt

You could flush the diff first. Here's one "how to" from a place that sells LE1605:

3. To properly flush the differential, use a light viscosity turbine oil or non-detergent engine oil (SAE 10 or 20). Jack up your truck (no-load condition) and run in gear for 15 minutes and drain. Note that some units can be so badly oxidized that physical removal from the inner surfaces may be required.

http://mag-hytec.com/oil-1605DUOLEC.htm

I'm going to do this in the next couple of weeks.

Back S2k

tbh that looks perfectly normal.

Billman250

Just drive it, that's a good looking normal plug for its time.

nissanfanatic

Yes, it is a time in service matter, not so much total elapsed time.