So in what seems like ugly trend, I am here to confess my sins.
Memorial Day weekend I drove my 93 Land Cruiser to the White Mountains in eastern Arizona. A few hundred miles round trip. On the way there I was hearing some whining from the front of the vehicle. I have long suspected that there is a vacuum leak somewhere in my 80. So while I was up there I spent some time looking it over to see if I could find a leak. Couldn't find anything.
On the way back climbing out of Salt River Canyon I realized that whine really only occurred when accelerating-- when the engine was pushing the vehicle it was lounder, when coasting it was much quieter.
So this weekend I checked my u-joints. They looked fine as far as I could tell.
While laying under the car I stared at the front end and started to try and remember when I last checked/changed my diff fluids.
Long story short---this is the fluid that came out of my front diff--- slightly less than the 2.5 qts that were supposed to be there.
So I went and bought some generic 75-90 gear oil, added the new oil, drove it around for 25 miles, and then changed it again. The whine during acceleration was still there with new gear oil. I couldn’t tell a difference in the sound with it full of fluid. But to be honest, I am not 100 percent sure that the whine is coming from the diff.
But it seems likely that the diff would be at least a little damaged from running it so low of fluid. But how would I tell?
Memorial Day weekend I drove my 93 Land Cruiser to the White Mountains in eastern Arizona. A few hundred miles round trip. On the way there I was hearing some whining from the front of the vehicle. I have long suspected that there is a vacuum leak somewhere in my 80. So while I was up there I spent some time looking it over to see if I could find a leak. Couldn't find anything.
On the way back climbing out of Salt River Canyon I realized that whine really only occurred when accelerating-- when the engine was pushing the vehicle it was lounder, when coasting it was much quieter.
So this weekend I checked my u-joints. They looked fine as far as I could tell.
While laying under the car I stared at the front end and started to try and remember when I last checked/changed my diff fluids.
Long story short---this is the fluid that came out of my front diff--- slightly less than the 2.5 qts that were supposed to be there.
So I went and bought some generic 75-90 gear oil, added the new oil, drove it around for 25 miles, and then changed it again. The whine during acceleration was still there with new gear oil. I couldn’t tell a difference in the sound with it full of fluid. But to be honest, I am not 100 percent sure that the whine is coming from the diff.
But it seems likely that the diff would be at least a little damaged from running it so low of fluid. But how would I tell?
Last edited: