This is why you change fluids early with pics...

So I changed my oil and rear differential fluid at 81 miles. The oil filter was doing its job and catching the little metal shavings in the filter and the magnet on the differential drain caught a good chunk of metal.

I work at a hot rod shop and anytime we install new gears or run a crate engine we recommend oil change at 50 miles and rear fluid at 100 miles. The engine oil came out looking clean, the rear differential fluid came out looking like liquid Etch-A-Sketch (for you young kids you'll have to Google that). Anyways, no matter what your dealer says, I'd recommend a rear differential fluid change way before the recommended 30,000 miles and oil before 5,000 miles.

Rear fluid is easy to change, two crush washers and a 24 mm socket. Remove the fill plug first, then the drain plug. Drain. Install new crush washer and drain plug by hand, screw hand tight then torque to 36 ft. lbs. Refill with 3.75 qts. of 75-85 (good luck finding that, I went with Amsoil 75-90). It'll trickle out of the fill hole when full. Then, hand tighten and torque the fill plug to 36 ft. lbs.

Although I'm not ASE in Toyota, I am Tech Degree holding and ASE certified in paint and body, mechanical and electrical and frame work. My Tacoma has 190k on it and has never had an issue.

Now for the pictures:

 

Would your refill/ torque specs also apply for 2007? Do you remember off hand the crush washer dia/spec so I don't have to pull fill/drain plug before I go to O'Reilly's?

 

OK. You scared me into the early oil and differential changes! I have 1150 miles on my 2015 Tundra, so I have already gone way past your recommended 50/100. I know years ago, it was normal to do a maintenance at 1000 miles, and the newer cars don't call for it. I guess they want to drum up more business down the road...

 

So after your initial early changes... how often after that?

 

this is normal all engines and diffs including transmission and transfer case, this is. why you need to be easy on the truck till things break in correctly.

 

If it was me i would just pull the filter( around 1000 miles and break it apart and see whats going on before a oil change.

 

Part number for the differential washers are 12157-10010 and are the same for top and bottom. This is also the same part number for the older Tundra's and my Tacoma. So I'd imagine the torque spec is the same for the older Tundra's since my 06 Tacoma also has a 36ft lbs torque spec. One note is to make sure you have a good 24mm socket because these plugs are weak and are known to round. Make sure when you loosen it that you aren't pulling down at an angle or you'll round it for sure. I've had to replace my Tacoma's twice. They are cheap at around $5 from the dealer so normally when I do the 30k I spend the extra to know that I won't round it. The washers are like $1 each from the dealer. Again cheap insurance.

After I do this initial one, I do it again at 500 both oil and differential and then I go about the 5,000 changes on oil, 30,000 on transmission fluid/differential fluid/brake fluid and power steering fluid. My Tacoma I've went with 10k oil changes and sent the oil out to Blackstone Tech once a year to check on it. No problems so far.

Mike is right, it is perfectly normal. Basically as things seat and mesh together any casting flash or burrs get shaved off. The magnets and filters are there to catch them. I just don't like knowing that the magnet or filter is being clogged up with that. I just do it for peace of mind knowing that everything is flushed out. With the new truck I get 5 free oil changes, but I'm doing the first two myself then taking the rest to the dealer.

The rear gear fluid change from 85 to 90 won't hurt anything. From what I understand Toyota went with that weight for some EPA standards for the newer vehicles. Honestly if you never tell the dealer they'd have to send it out to be analyzed to see the difference in that weight. Still, I normally run 75 90 in all my muscle cars and the Tacoma and haven't had any issues.

This isn't a "go out and do it now" type of thing, but for me, if I spend $43k on a truck that I know I'm keeping for a long time, then flushing $150 in fluids and materials for the first 500 miles is worth it knowing that I've got everything cleaned out. Then again, think of all the ones that no one does this to and they are running just fine.

 

Thanks for the info. Stopping by the dealer on the way home.

 

No problem. Literally takes less than 10 minutes to do and that's using a pump to get the oil in. If you have a flex filler and gravity it's even less time. You can also jack up the driver side of the truck to get it all out but just draining it level gets enough of it, that plug is low and at an angle to begin with.

 

how many quarts does it take? im thinking of flushing differential, transmission, and coolant i can do all three for $270 at a goodyear store trying to weigh out the oppurtunity cost

 

Rear differential used up around 3 3/4 quarts. Used Mobile 1, 75w-90. $9.50 a quart at Pep Boys.

 

What ^ said. 3 3/4 quarts for rear differential is what worked for me as well.

 

Planning to complete 30K service on the rear diff of my 2nd Gen Tundra. I'm going with Red Line (50104) 75W-85, and a couple of the 121571-10010 gaskets for the axle drain/fill plugs. I have the 24mm socket, but it's a 12 point...

Is there anything I am forgetting? Thanks!

 

I will add this to the list of things to do come spring.

Great post @Dave333 !

 

Update on the rear differential. I kept hearing a small howling noise as I let off the accelerator from 55 to 50. Took it in and the service department put it on a lift and listened to it. After showing the picture above, they determined it was a spider gear installed incorrectly. Ordered me a whole new differential. Took a couple weeks for the part to arrive, but the date code on it is late November. So now, truck has a whole new differential.

 

Of course that would happen to you...

 

Yeah no big deal. Sometimes things even from the factory just aren't spec'd right. It was nice that the dealership was easy to work with and handled it professionally.

 

Bummer... glad thing's worked out for you.

I did complete my "service" on the rear diff. Gotta love the smell of gear oil. The fill plug was tighter than the drain plug? Oh well they're both torqued to 36ft-lbs now. I did jack the driver side up to drain a little more oil out.

 

@Dave333 when you change rear differential fluid are you doing front too? If not, how often on front? How many quarts in front?

 

Mine is a 2WD so no front differential fluid. If I had it, I'd do both at the same time, every 30k miles and fill to the manual's specs. Usually until it trickles out of the hole. Hope that helps.

 

Reviving an old lube thread ... old news to many.

I recently did my first oil change at ~ 2K mi and (as others have found) there were metal flakes and grit in every pleat of the filter. Yes, the filter is working, at least for the bigger particles. I now plan to change the differential oil before specified.

 

@SSPey thanks for the bump.

I'm at 220 miles and plan on changing fluids ASAP. Glad I came across this thread.

 

Damn, thanks for the specs on the rear differential. I may just do that now since I just passed 15k miles.

Now I'm having trust issues with my local dealership. 2 more oil changes with them...

 

So I get it that people are catching metal flakes in their filters at such low mileage on newer trucks. But why change the fluids and filter so early? If the filter is doing its job and collecting the material, let it keep going for the interval. I don't believe the material separates from the filter and gets rerouted through the engine. At 2k miles, I feel that all of the fluid has at some point been through the filter.
Do you also replace the air filter as soon as a dandelion seed gets sucked in or do you wait until it's filled enough to when it comprises the filtering ability?

Maybe I'm too trustworthy of filters...filtering.

I'm also open to being taught things that I don't know about lol

 

Check number 5 on this list. Blackstone agrees with you.

https://www.edmunds.com/car-maintenance/top-7-urban-legends-about-motor-oil.html

 

Exactly. The filter will do its job and collect particles large enough to do any damage.

Only thing I can chalk it up to is piece of mind for the user.

 

I agree! One last question: how large is the actual piece of brain tissue one receives?

Please express the value using linear dimensions or volume.

 

5....cc's.

 

Lots of big particles on the filter means lots of small particles are passing through it. Small particles are a concern because they fit between tight machining tolerances to cause wear.

http://www.upmpg.com/tech_articles/sae_filtration_study/index.html

Toyota doesn’t add anything special for break-in oil, so no worries draining it out for fresh. Gonna bank my 5 cc. I need every bit that I can get

 

Mine was like that too even had a bigger chip in there at about 500.