Changing the diff oil.
Probably something that often gets ignored, so I thought I’d get a couple of tins of new oil and do it. The old stuff is almost certainly very old and must be past it’s best by now anyway.
Jacked the arse end up and stuck a stand under. Weirdly these cars seem to vary in having a drain plug or just the filler plug! Axles are the same so I’ve no idea why some have both yet others don’t? My old 87 saloon did have both, this estate only has the filler!
Usually I’d be fannying around using a big old syringe and bits of screen wash hose to empty diffs and gearbox’s if there’s no drain plug but I recently bought a fluid extraction pump. It’s a cheapo Silverline one off eBay. Makes the job much much easier and quicker (and cleaner!).
The filler plug was actually loose! Makes a change from being seized but unsurprisingly that also meant the oil level was a touch low. Not dangerously low but definitely low. There’s no leaks anywhere else and the area around the filler plug was caked in gunk and oil so I think that was the culprit.
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1.4L came out, and 1.6L of Millers EP90 gl5 went back in, as per the manual. And I’ve cleaned off the gunk from the diff and filler plug and tightened it up fully too.
Easy job, and it definitely seems quieter and smoother now.