-
My question is I don't think my rear differential have ever been serviced. There is no drain plug. It is not creating no problem should I just leave it as is. It has 190,000 miles on it and no problems. But I am a person for preventive maintenance.
There is no drain plug.
There's no such thing. You take the whole back cover off, clean it out and inspect the condition of everything.
should I just leave it as is.
Why? So it can wear out quicker?
I am a person for preventive maintenance.
Then maintain it
The "If it has high mileage, then leave it alone" line of thinking has to do with automatic transmissions, not differentials. I would change it. It is a little late for preventative maintenance, but changing it should help prevent the diff from growling and failing if you plan on the driving the vehicle for much longer.
I would change it immediately so I know where I stand. Use the correct grade and weight hypoid gear oil recommended by the manufacturer.
I highly recommend changing the fluid as the others have said.
I wanted to add something about gaskets. A few months back I did a diff fluid change on a Ford 8.8 inch rear and used a "Lube Locker" brand gasket, which I had never heard of before. They are quite impressive. They don't require RTV and are reusable! If you hold one in your hand you will believe it. Well worth the $21.95 IMO. They have a 5 star rating on amazon. I bought mine from LMR. They might be right up your alley @justin-shepherd & @mmj
If you don't want to pull the cover off just use a Mighty Vac to suck the old oil out through the filler plug. It's not as good as pulling the cover off but it will work.
If you don't have any noise, etc. from the rear end, there shouldn't be any harm in changing the gear oil. The differential is just a set of splash lubricated gears. Your Explorer is mechanically very similar to the Ford Ranger of those years. The Ranger has no drain plug. The fill plug is on the driver's side of the differential and is pulled out with a 3/8" ratchet with no socket. The differential is drained by removing the bolts holding the cover to the rear of the "pumpkin". If I recall correctly, they do not make a gasket for this when you reattach it, so you will need to make one with gasket maker from a tube.
and if there is noise?
You can't do much except rebuild or replace the rear end. Changing the gear oil gets metal debris out and hopefully slows down the progression, but what's done is pretty much done.
Cool, thanks for the info! A write-up in the Ranger forums I read a while back said they didn't make gaskets for the rear end.
I HATE scraping off old RTV.