Well guys it was a long hot week and I for one am happy it's over. I changed the Transfer case fluid the best I could. I tipped the car up on the passenger side as recommended to drain the old out, I got about half a cup. Being a 2002 I was suprised there was any in there. I tipped her up on the driver side, about 20-22 inches, for the refill and she took about 3/4 of a bottle of Royal Purple gear lube to top her off. Can anyone tell me if I put enough in? It didn't seem to want to take anymore and I squeezed the bottle as hard as I could. Should I repeat the excersize again in a couple weeks for a more thorough cleaning? Any advice would be appreciated. Oh yea, I wiped the plug off and got a good bit of sludge from it. Being magnetized I can only assume the "sludge" was actually metal dust. Thanks for any feedback.

 

If anything you over filled the transfer case. Bone dry it only takes 600 ml. If you put in 3/4 of a bottle, then you put in about 750 ml.

 

Thanks Thermo. Will it self vent or should I drain some out myself?

 

It will self vent, but plan on having a funky smell coming from the car. THe vent will drain right on to the exhaust pipe. So, for the next 2-3 weeks, you will have a funny smell coming from under the hood of the car and you may see a spot of fluid on the driveway where you park the car. Nothing that is earth shattering or leading to failure of your car. BUt, some people see this as a problem though too.

 

Hello Niens, just performed the transfer case drain and refill on my car.

750 ml shouldn't generate enough internal pressure in the TC to activate the overpressure valve, I personnaly put 700 ml (I planned to flush the TC changing fluid until it comes clear when draining, so I overfilled a little bit) without any issue.

Note: My transfer case was dry, we had to remove it from the car for another operation so draining was perfect.


EDIT: Checked under the car and had a look on my exhaust pipe, it appears that some oil was self-vented, so even 700 ml is too much. Didn't have any smell but I had a long travel on motorway just after oil was changed, I think oil was self-vented during the first kilometers.

 

Before I established that 250mls are left in the box when draining through the drain plug, I was adding 550 mls. Having done this a number of times, it always blew oil out through the vent until a total of 625mls remained. Ie I was draining 375 mls. It gave the appearance of the righthand side oil seal leaking; very messy, very smelly!