Replacing all fluids

[Turbogst]

front, rear diff , what else should I do? Also how much fluid do I need, I lost my book years ago =-(. It has 106K miles on it now. Also my brother inlaw told me to run Lucas, what do you guys think? I'm doing a full tune up and wanting to replace all fluids before she gets parked till spring.

[Towncivilian]

I don't know about Lucas gear oil or greases, but I would pick something more well known to be a decent product, since all of Lucas' other products are pretty much marketing (oil stabilizer, etc). Valvoline, Castrol, Mobil 1 are good options... if there's an Advance Auto Parts near you, you can get 5 quarts of Mobil 1 gear oil for only $35 if ordered online using code RETMENOT123 and picked up in-store.

The front differential takes 1.9 quarts, and the rear differential takes 2.54 quarts. See MA-26.

Don't forget to grease the driveshafts. Other than that, add some Stabil to the gas and I think you should be fine parked until spring.

[donald]

I'd better grease my drive shafts

anyhow, I used Lucas upfront (since I don't drive that much 4wd mode anyway) and just for peace-at-mind I put Royal Purple in the rear. I don't really have any scientifical (altho I mean "scientific" - online grammar, ok?) reason whether RoyalPurp is better than Lucas or not. I figure regular changing of the fluid is what matters more or less - and how hard you drive it

and when it comes to deciding if you should use "Standard" or "LSD-applicable" oil, I read somewhere on the interwebz that using LSD-applicable oil in a Standard should be fine... I'll have to find that reference. Anyway, I think the bottles of gear oil on either the Lucas and RoyalPurple said they'd work for LSD differentials.

*edit*
Here's one reference I found. I figure "BobTheOilGuy" is pretty reliable information???
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ub ... er=2048641

[Towncivilian]

Well, considering that there are vehicles with 300k+ mi factory fill fluid in diffs, I'd also say it hardly matters what you use ultimately as long as you change it at a reasonable interval. Hell, you could use $3/qt SuperTech 80W-90 gear oil and as long as you change it out every 15k you'd be golden. But when excellent fluid is ultimately not that expensive, why not go for the best?

You can use fluid with LSD additive in an open differential without issue, yes.

Bob Is The Oil guy is a site I frequent. It's a very informative forum full of knowledgeable and helpful people.

[patqx4]

I have a question that may apply to this thread, I want to replace the coolant, what type do I use? If it's not premixed with water, is it ok to use bottled jugs of water from the grocery store? I figure that's cleaner than tap water.
Thanks,

-Pat

[Towncivilian]

I have a question that may apply to this thread, I want to replace the coolant, what type do I use? If it's not premixed with water, is it ok to use bottled jugs of water from the grocery store? I figure that's cleaner than tap water.
Thanks,

-Pat

Use only distilled water for mixing non-premixed coolant.

I used a gallon of Nissan OEM coolant and mixed it with a gallon of distilled water. I think it was $18 or so for a jug. I still had a few quarts left over after draining & filling the radiator. I used an extra gallon of distilled water to flush out the overflow reservoir by moving the hose below the reservoir's level. There was quite a bit of sediment present.

Inspect the radiator cap too, see this TSB.

[patqx4]

I thought bottled drinking water was distilled. Where did you buy your distilled water?

[Towncivilian]

Bottled "spring" or "purified" water is not distilled. I got my gallons of distilled water at my local supermarket. Wal-Mart should have them, too.

[donald]

Yah, distilled water is supposed to be free of impurities and other "junk".
Spring water or filtered water can contain minerals or added vitamin or whatever for tastiness or flavor.

... that's what I got from Google anyhow.

If you were in the middle of the desert and you urgently needed water, I'd put any type of water in there just to get the car moving and to somewhere "safe", then take it to a mechanic and run a flush, not just drain and refill.

If you're in the city, it'd be ideal to used "distilled" water to prevent any contamination to the internals of your engine; contamination of the radiator is not the concern, but the internals and channels within the engine are is what I'd assume (ie. gunked radiators can be replaced easily compared to gunked engines ).

You can technically drink distilled water , but due to the natural tendency of everything to balance out (what's that word we learned in bio?) you can "leak" nutrients and whatever from your cells into the distilled water you intake... but that's getting OT.

you shouldn't think of it as "well, I can drink distilled water and spring water - whats the difference?"
Your body can filtrate stuff out. Your engine is not as advanced as your body

[yeldogt]

I just did all of mine. Used 1 gallon Nissan coolant and distilled water ------- Nissan Matic D in the trans and auto transfer case ...... Mobil 1 in the two differentials and Dot 3 fluid flush for the brakes

[WPGQX4]

I did mine this summer. Amsoil in everything now. Only thing that doesn't have synthetic in it is the power steering. Should make winter driving a bit easier on the moving parts.

[Pathy415]

Change your brake fluid and maybe add some fuel stabilizer to the gas tank?