So I had my truck in getting aligned on Friday, and was informed that the front diff fluid had water in it and looked like a milkshake. They brought out a sample to show me, and wanted to charge me 90 bucks to suck it out through the filler hole and fill it up again. I declined as I figured I could do the same thing. Pulling off the cover to thoroughly clean it out would be better, but I thought that you had to drop the differential to get the cover off (and they said the same thing).

So, this afternoon, I tried to suck the fluid out through the filler hole. As it turns out, there's no way to get a tube down there to do this. This forced me to look more closely at the thing to see if I could get the cover off. As it turns out, all I needed to do was pull off the oil filter shield and assemble 18" of extensions to get to the top few bolts. It was easy, only took about an hour and a half, and I was able to get it all cleaned out. It's now full of Mobil 1 75W90 and water free.

Just thought that I'd share that you don't have to drop the diff to do this job. Easy peasy.

Here's a pic of it with the cover off covered in stinky-*** milkshake:

 

This is what came out. I'm glad they found that, odds are I'd been driving around for a week with it like that.

 

MMMM.. Wanna dip my fries in that... Yeah dude, I'd much rather do it myself that pay someone to do it..

 

Ah yea that's some sick ****, been wanting to do my front for a while now. Just haven't had the time.

 

I didn't drive through any water, but I did drive to Minneapolis in moderate to heavy rain (about 230 miles). I'm still not sure how it sucked water in for that trip, but no idea how else it could have happened.

 

Check it again after a hard rain and see if you have any water in it..

 

Yeah, I'm going to. I tried to find the vent tube but didn't see where it comes out. I'm wondering if it's broken somewhere along the line.

 

Did mine today, this is what mine looked liked as well....I don't drive thru water..... So let me know if you find a cause...maybe I have the same issue....

 

Did mine today and found the same slurry. I'd like to know what my next step is if it happened again. Thanks

 

Dang if water can get in the diff without it being submerged then I guess I should check mine sometime soon. How do you check the front diff fluid? Just take out the fill plug and stick something in there?