Did the the diff oil change today using Castrol BOT 720 mostly following the procedure posted by TheRock88. I only tool change I would recommend is to use a long wobble extension with a short non ball end 8mm hex socket to remove the fill plug. My fill plug was gorilla tight and I could feel it starting to strip out using the recommended ball end bit. However the ball end hex is a must to align and replace the fill plug hand tight and then use the normal hex to tighten. For a pump I used this:


To use it you have to account for the 200ml the suction pipe holds. Otherwise was very nice. I have used this type of syringe to refill automatic transmissions before with great success.

I would also strongly recommend purchasing at least a new fill plug in before you start in case you damage the old one taking it out (like I did). A new one costs about $3.50

My drain plug looked like this after 30K miles (new one on left)

The old diff oil was dark but no sludge and looked like this (~800ml came out):

 

Sorry in advance for dredging up an old thread. I had a trusted independent shop do the rear diff fluid change in my 2015 F-Type R. He said he had a hard time with the plug and charged 1.5hr time. Total cost of service for Diff fluid change, replacement of leaking transmission mount, oil change and safety check was $1200. The car has 18K miles on it and the diff fluid was very dark color.

 

It's good you had these issues taken care of. At least its a few things you will not have to worry about. It's my belief that doing the recommended maintenance on these cars is important even if its for a catching things on the early side of the degrading
parts or fluids.

What I have found relative to doing it yourself or having the dealer and or independent shop do the work is that, it's a balance between cost of parts,my time and the cost delta between paying the other guy to do the work.
If its under a certain amount I always let someone else do it. As for dealer vs independent that 2 can be a close call I have had the dealers come in so close to independents again its worth letting the dealer do the work based on their knowledge
of the car. The trick is having to get quotes from more then one source which also takes time.

As they say if it was easy everyone would be doing it!!!!

 

Sorry to hear about your issue. No way it took 1.5 hours to get either the drain or fill plug out (or even both) unless they do not know what they are doing. With the wheel off, it takes maybe 5 minutes for the fill plug...And the drain plug is a 1 minute job. I recently (2 weeks ago) just did a re-drain and fill of the rear, after about 4K miles from the original drain and fill to see what it looked like. The entire job took me maybe 30 minutes (after having done it before). Also happy to report, that the fluid that came out this time looked like new, and there was almost 0 particles on the drain plug. So my thought is the original fill has all of the break-in wear particles and sludge, and after changing it will likely stay pretty clean unless you have an issue.

DC

 

I do agree with you on the time charged!

As I noted previously The dealer charged me $180. My cost for the correct fluid would have been $90 and the 2 plugs $10 so for me the extra $80 wasn't worth getting under the car and getting my hands dirty.
That was the cheapest I could find the fluid for as well! No right or wrong approach.

I also didn't want to make him feel like he got taken as I don't know what the other tranny mount leak service he had done
required.

 

I like getting under the car...AND getting my hands dirty That is why I bought 2 different lifts, put Ceramic tile in the garage and do it all myself...So much different than my normal job...It is my therapy. Certainly not cost effective in some cases...but I enjoy it!

DC

 

I like working on my cars as well and it gives me a respite from the everyday grind. I don't have a lift so some things are a bit challenging with jacks and jack stands. So I pick my battles relative to time money and the complexity of the work.
Not that the diff oil change is difficult.

 

TheRock88 took the words right out of my mouth! 100% agree. I'm an old guy who has worked on and restored many American 60's & 70's muscle cars. Buying and learning to work on the Jaguar has been a new and exciting experience. I enjoy learning new things and how they work. But also the environment that I have been able to create over the years. One garage that is completely finished with a lift, heat, great lighting, etc. Another garage as well, finished with heat, A/C, TV, radio finished floor, all my old signs and poster to look at, that I use for clean up, waxing, etc. I also use my garages and extra time for helping other people fix their cars and teaching younger people how to work on their own stuff. More rewarding than the stuff I do at work.

 

Has anyone used the Ravenol MDL? It's the only oil that I've found which specifically mentions the BOT 720 specification.
https://www.blauparts.com/vw-touareg...196-a2-1l.html

 

Have not used this...But the Motul is indicated to be spec'd for our cars per their site HERE.

I also have been running it in mine with no issues. I use the Ravenol products in my Cayenne S, and they make quality fluids as well.(Just not sure of the compatibility with the rear E-Diff).

DC

 

My 2017 F-Type S has 36k miles on it. I just finished changing the differential oil. The used oil was very black and and more viscous than the new oil. There's no doubt that it should have been changed long ago. I'll change it every 15k miles from now on. Jaguar gets a big fail for not having this listed in the maintenance schedule. There were no visible metal shavings on the drain plug magnet, just a chunk of metal powder about the size of a nickel. I did take the left wheel off in an attempt to get to the fill plug. I absolutely couldn't see it. When I got up under the car, it was pretty easy to see. I guess I should have tried that first. On my car there was no way to get to the fill plug through the wheel well. However, it was easy to get to from the bottom. I filled it using the Ravenol MDL. Jaguar's instruction to not use the fill hole as a leveling point is just plain stupid. They could have easily put the location lower. I estimate that I put in about 1.4L in, but I don't really know. I used some to clean my pump before filling and some spilled out after filling. I did put new thread sealant on the plugs and tightened them to 20ft-lbs. It seems to be working fine now. I'll let you know if anything goes wrong.

 

I think the refill spec is only about 820ml for a V6S. See post # 12 above.

I would think an overfill would cause leaks through seals and the breathers.

 

I had to recalculate. I have almost 0.6L left. I guesstimate that I lost about 0.3L when I cleaned the pump that I used. The tube that I was using was just a tiny bit smaller than the fill hole. When I pull it out, a good bit rushed out. When I leveled the car, even more came out. I'm pretty confident that there's more than 0.83L in there, but how much I do not know. That's why having the fill hole at the correct level is such a good idea.

 

I had a poke around under the car this morning to check out the possibility of a DIY diff fluid change.
The car has done some 66k km (41k miles) so I am thinking it is time.
No lift and only basic trolley jacks and axle stands so a bit of a hassle squirming under there.
Took a while to find the fill hole/plug.
No way in this Universe was I ever going to be able to undo it with the limited tools I have available!
I have plenty of hex drivers/bits and a couple of wobble extensions but no long ones and nothing I tried had any hope of cracking that plug
Oh well, looks like I have no choice but to take it to a shop with a lift.

 

I've toyed with doing this job too and think it might be easier to just take it to a local shop. I do a lot of work on my car, but this one seems like a job I'd rather not do myself.

 

I'll point out that it wasn't necessary to remove the left rear tire for my 6 cylinder F-Type S. I don't know why the differential housing was different, but the fill hole was not in the same location. It was much easier to do this job than the video I saw on YouTube indicated. It's definitely worth jacking up your car to see where the fill hole is. It was easier to change my car's differential fluid than it is to change the oil in my wife's Toyota.

 

The oil actually looks decent. I wouldn't rush to change oil on cars before 5 years .

 

Dunno about you but my fill hole was on the right hand side so why would I remove the left rear tyre?
V6 S 2015 model year.
And as I said not at all easy for me, bordering on impossible to get a hex bit into the plug hole in such a way as to have any leverage on it.
The only way I could see would be to grab an 8 mm Allen key and cut the short end down to no more than 2 cm long, all three of my 8 mm hex/Allen sockets were waaaay too long to get in there and still have room to fit any sort of wrench on the end.

 

A "Special Jaguar Service Tool"? I actually have one of those for another car in our stable. ( a shortened 8mm hex )

Go ahead, cut one off.

 

The fill plug on my '16 S is on the left side. Using the tools outlined in the Rocks DIY (long ball end hex head bit, wobble extension, plus another conventional 6" extension) I was able to do it by just jacking up the rear left side to give enough room to slide under to access the fill plug, no tire removal was necessary. I will say with the combination of extensions it gave me very little room between the rear of the ratchet head and the suspension components as its pretty tight working quarters. I had probably 36k miles when I changed it and was glad I did.