Differential Service

klutchdust wrote:

ron.dittmer wrote:
I wonder how a shop sees metal shavings in the diff fluid when checking. Maybe they sucked some fluid out from near the bottom with something like THIS SUCTION GUN. I use one for adding/filling differential and manual transmission fluids.

Good question. Maybe a flexible magnet into the fluid. Metal shavings are common in those types of gear assembles. And when they say shavings think the size of ground pepper or even smaller, more like metal chips/flakes, not what you see when you drill holes in steel.

I would describe metal particles in vehicle differentials and transmissions as "black and gray mud" that forms at the bottom.

I have seen in new lawn equipment, cheap machinery by comparison, a metallic glistening in the first engine oil change (during the break-in period). That does not describe diff and trans fluids in a vehicle.