So I did the fluid change a few weeks ago. Drained out the common 100 or so mL. Replaced with 550mL, started driving and began getting a gear oil on exhaust smell. Upon inspection the area around the case was wet with oil. Used brake cleaner to clean the area. Continued to drive the car for several weeks with the odor persisting. The car never left a spot of oil anywhere! It finally stop stinking, so I went back under and drained so I could get an accurate measurement of the remaining fluid volume. I was able to drain(level) a good 330mL out. Far more than the origional 100, but significantly less than suggested. No obvious leaks. Suggestions?

 

Kay, depending on how the car is sitting on the jackstands and if you have the car leaning (even a little bit), you can easily keep 200 ml of fluid in the transfer case. So, if you put in 550ml, then you really had about 750ml of fluid in the transfer case, leading to the smell you were getting. Some of the lube when it was overfilled came out the vent and landed on the exhaust. If you want to make sure you know how much you are putting in, you need to lean the car a little down on the driver's side and that will help drain out most of the fluid. From there, you can add in 500ml of fluid and be good.

 

It's just coming out of the overflow vent...mine leaked for like 1000 miles after replacing the fluid but I rather it leaks a little bit than it being dried.

 

I did the "leaning" drain, but filled it fairly level as best I could. The whole car was up on stands as I changed the rear diff also, which I surprisingly was able to siphon slightly over 1000mL!

 

Much more fluid remains in the case than you think. A while ago a guy posted drilling a drain at the bottom of the TC. He discovered that using the non-tilt car technique that about 300 ml of fluid is left in the TC when you use the drain plug (or the 1/2 drain plug as it should be called). The fill is then 300 to 350 ml. If you overfill the TC it will leak out the vent. There's probably no problem with that.

 

I discovered that I was overfilling the TC all this time. Mostly due to erroneous information about how much fluid remains in the case.