revhi

Did a diff fluid change yesterday and when tighten the fill bolt, it just kept turning. I didnt use much pressure at all. I think it was stripped from the last change because it dripped from the fill hole before I changed it. Anyhow, instead of going to Honda to retap it, I talked to my tech and he said to go to an auto parts store and get a rubber plug to cork it. He says they sell it for cars with stripped oil drain bolts. Just hoping they have one big enough for the diff. fill hole.

Anyone else, gone through this?

Also my rears (4.44's) always made odd noises for a year now. The fluid had a lot of metal shavings in it. Plus one other tiny piece of metal, I took a pic, but its still hard to see. Not sure if its a chunk of a tooth or maybe a piece of stripped metal from the bolt.

Heres the pic, its a small metal piece, about 1/8 of an inch, sorry for the pic quality, it was taken with a camera phone. Not sure if its a piece of a gear or part of the diff housing that come off the stripped threads. It was on the magnetic plug when I drained it.

CoralDoc

It would be difficult to retap the fill hole unless the diff was removed. A rubber plug would be a good solution as long as you can find one that fits.

esracer

Well if you can make that work do it, cause if you take it to the dealership they will charge you to replace the whole housing, that's what they did to me. $900 worth, don't take it to the dealer that's what they'll suggest. Stay away from the dealership if you're going to do it on your own. I called another dealership in my state about asking them to retap and they said, yeah they'll do it, but if something goes wrong in the long run your warrenty won't be valid for your diff. Also I found out afterwards asking for my old casing back that I chpped like the surface too from the stripping, I don't know if I did it or they did, but after knowing that i needed to replace the whole thing because i would never get a proper seal.

In conclusion, retap the hole by yourself or get that plug, and don't let the dealership know if you want to keep your warrenty without any problems.

esracer

Yeah as you said removing it to tap the diff, this is why i still went the route to replace the casing, my dealership quoted around $600 for the retap with labor and no gurrantees, so $300 more for assurance was nice, but it still hurt. I learned that I need to read directions more carefully.

CoralDoc

Well, if you ever go in for warrantee repairs on the differential, they will almost certainly notice a rubber plug in the fill hole instead of the threaded bolt.

Also, as long as the repair does not contribute to a failure, I don't see how it would allow the dealer to not honor a warrantee.

revhi

600 bucks. I knew they ahd to drop it, but damn. I think Ill stick with the plugging idea for now.

So I guess Im not the only one this happened to.

esracer

True but most dealerships I've done business with will find every little way possible to give you problems on honoring your warrenty.

ninegrand

Wait: might sound silly but is the Bolt stripped or the threads on the housing?

First time I did the diff change I forgot to put the washer on the drain bolt. This kept the bolt from sitting hight enough in the socket, and then when I statrted to torque it stripped easily.

So if its just the bolt that is stripped I can go into how I fixed, otherwise I'm sorry...

esracer

lol yeah you're not the only one, I think there are several of us that have done this.

esracer

The housing was stripped, not the bolt.