Should I be worried...?

[w4lks0ftly]

I changed fluids in the rear differential, transfer case, and front differential this morning as part of baselining Pearl. Went with Mobil 1 75w-90 full synthetic GL-5 for all three. Best that can be seen from records is that fluids were last changed at a reputable Lexus dealership 5 years and 26,000 miles ago.

Fluid condition wasn't terrible; the rear was straw colored, very thick, and a bit opaque--is this the "milky" rear diff fluid indicative of contamination with water? There was one small chip on the rear drain plug magnet, probably the size of a small fingernail trimming, and a light coat of shavings. The transfer case fluid was amber colored, substantially lower viscosity, and also had a non-alarming amount of shavings on the magnet.

The front differential had the same color and consistency fluid as the transfer case. The drain plug magnet, though...

None of those are chips--just so many shavings it's making a try at ferrous magnetic sculpture.

I know the drain plug magnets are there for a reason, and it's clearly doing its job, but is this OK? Should I be worried?

 

[medtro]

No concern there.

 

[2001LC]

It's normal to see metal shavings on drain plug magnet. You'll likely see less at each subsequent change. For frt diff & transfer I like 30K interval & rear diff 60K.

With rear diff I typically find less metal shaving on the drain plug magnet and color of fluid lighter up to around 60K miles.

As for color of gear lube. I'm better with pictures than description in this case. Here's normal, but not very old/cooked or it would have been darker.

When oil, gear lubes and greases become contaminated with water. They turn a light brown.

Sorry I've no contaminated gear lube pictures. Perhaps you'll find some in a search in mud. But I would expect the same light browm or rusty look

 

[BnvS]

Yup no problem at all. You'll always see some shavings with each change. But the longer you go between changes the more you'll get to see.

If you see small chunks of metal. That's when you'll have to start worrying.

Look up differential going bad... On google and it'll show you some pics of how it looks.