This is a good thread and it's prompted me to change my own e-diff fluid. Called my local Jag dealer and they sell the correct fluid for $60/litre. Pretty pricey, but since I won't be doing it frequently, and don't want to risk damaging the expensive e-diff, I will just buy it.
I have a lift in my garage so access should be easy, any tips from those who have done the job?

 

Did you need more that the bottle and half?
Do you have enough leftover for another change in a year or so?

 

Very easy job,. A small 8mm hex ratchet would be helpful, clearance is tight for the fill plug.

 

The life fluids in these two vital vehicle components DO loose their quality over time. It only makes sense to change these fluids and tranny filter after 25k miles before 60k. The tranny filter will give you an inside look of your trans health as the wear material will be present , hopefully a very minimal amount.
As others have stated the ZF panfilter & ZF fluid are available on eBay. I use a indie BMW mechanic to perform my maintenance. They run same tranny. He has no problem with me bringing components/parts to him. He measured the amount of oil that came out of tranny. A lift is priceless.
The diff oil in my car was really beat. Black as coal oil and stunk.
The supercharger oil was black and stuck also. But I did that. No lift needed.

We spend good money for these vehicles for a very enjoyable ride cruising at 40-50 mph (with wife) or pedal smashed to the floor board, an enjoyable exhaust note singing in our ears and fingering the paddles till she screams next gear pleeease ...if there is enough safe road.
So why would you jeopardize this for simple routine fluid maintenance? Especially the brake fluid!! These car were built for a lifetime of enjoyment with simple maintenance for critical components.

 

So is it possible to over fill this Diff? I see that the SC should hold 1.3L. I drained old fluid which was very dark and smelly, I pumped 1.3L back in and when I pulled my hose out I had fluid coming out. I got plug back in fairly quickly but then I started wondering if I didn’t get all the fluid out and maybe I have it overfilled? Anyone that has done this can you tell me if it would be normal to have fluid pouring out or do you think I overfilled? Lastly if I did overfill could it do damage?

Thanks,
Aaron

 

Anyone have any experience with Diff fluid change care to weigh in on this? I have let the car sit for 2 days now after putting new fluid in, was thinking about opening up fill plug to see if fluid still comes out or maybe when I pumped in the 1.3L it needed time to settle? Also, I only had the rear end up on stands when I did this, so maybe affect draining or filling level? Any thoughts?

 

Just reminding you, in the manual it underscores the fill plug does not determine fill level.

 

I did see that as well Q&C, do you think that means the fill plug is lower than the fill level, therefore having fluid coming out before getting the plug back in would be normal or to not fill up to the fill plug?

 

To me it means you pay no attention to fill hole, strictly go by amount. Which also answers your other questions, you can overfill it and car level doesnt matter.

 

I am probably just being over cautious. Just when I read the statement you mentioned about fill plug not determining level, I took that as to not fill up to hole like you do on many vehicles, so when I had fluid coming out of fill hole, it made be question if I had overfilled. I guess the only way to know for certain is to remove fill plug and see if fluid still comes out. If it does I will let it drain until it stops then pull drain plug and drain into a container that I can measure how much fluid is left in Diff. at that point. I don't like doing things 2-3 times but not knowing will have me thinking about it non-stop. Unless someone can verify that the fill plug is indeed lower than the fill level, I don't see any other way to make sure?

 

Found this in another thread... So I guess I will be opening up the fill plug to see if fluid is still coming out or if it was just a need for fluid to settle into the diff. because of the thick weight...

 

This is exactly what I would do cause you lost count.
Put 1.3L in there and you are done. Ignore everything else. Raise the front too if you have to.
BTW, 1.3L is the big scotch bottle all the way to the top and 2 shot glasses more.

 

Perhaps PM one of the techs e.g. Brutal for an answer.

 

Ok, so I lifted car up in front and back to make sure it was level, pulled the fill plug and it was barely dripping any fluid. So I then pulled the drain plug and drained out the fluid into a container that I could measure it and I drained out 1.5L of fluid, so I did overfill. So I started getting everything ready to put back in 1.3L when I realized what I did. The side of my 1L bottles only have numbers up to 800ml even though 1L has 1000ml, so without thinking I put the first liter in and just messed up the simple math and then added 500ml in for what I thought was 1.3L but was actually 1.5L. So moral of this story is it appears that our Ediff will hold approximately 1.5L if you fill up to fill hole. Not sure if the extra 200ml would make a huge difference, but no sense in chancing it. This really is very simple to do, I would recommend everyone doing this because my fluid was really nasty looking. All you need is an 8mm allen that is about 3/4” long, 8mm open end wrench for fill plug and 3/8 socket ratchet for drain plug and of course 2 liters of fluid. After car is lifted it takes less than 30 minutes to do it...

 

As a side note for those living in areas with corrosive salt spray in winter, or in a damp environment, ALWAYS remove the FILL plug first prior to removing the drain plug, if fitted.

 

Attempted to change the fluid in the e-diff today. Got the car up on the lift (which is a chore in itself having to move a bunch of other vehicles) and proceeded to spend the next 2 hours trying to get the fill plug out to no avail. Pretty embarrassing as I consider myself pretty decent with this stuff (I was an apprentice tech many years ago and restore old cars as hobby) but this fill plug beat me....

I had nothing that I could get at it with, tried cutting down an 8mm allen wrench, but even cut down it wouldn't go. Eventually discovered that if I used a really long extension (like 8-10") with a 1/4" socket and 8mm hex I could get onto the fill plug by running the extension straight through the rear cradle. Thought that was going to do it, but nope...it's seized tight, even with the ratchet I couldn't apply enough torque to break it free. Had the hex slip a couple times and figured I'd better call it quits before I strip it entirely.

Glad I didn't drain it first...

So - anyone got an tips or special tools to get this fill plug out?

 

Try one of these. You will read in the reviews of others using it for your exact application. With the right leverage you can loosen even a frozen solid lug nut. These have the length for that leverage.

 

For the fill plug, I used a long 8mm allen, cut an inch off the short leg and map gassed the long arm and bent it in the middle about 30 degrees to clear the exhaust. The most important part was letting it sit for a day after soaking it with PB Blaster. Then I got the allen in and tapped the long leg with my Thor hammer and it broke loose! Putting it back in was a test of patience though since two fingers holding the plug almost won't fit in that space.

 

I just used a piece of 8mm allen around 1/2”-3/4” long with an 8mm ratcheting wrench... Lucky for me mine came right out without having to soak it with any penetrant...

 

Don, did you donate any skin to the exhaust pipe like I did?

Edit: Oops, I burned mine on transmission refill. wrong thread sorry.