Diff top up W124 300 TE '88

[MotardMan]

Does the car absolutely have to be level?

Is it going to be a bastid of a job to remove the top up/level plug? I have a 14mm drain plug removal tool......

Any other tips?

I'm doing it this weekend so would appreciate you fast response..

Best,

Jim

 

[andy_k]

to answer in order

1, yes ideally it does

2, no it's pretty easy to get at

3, don't swear too much when you take the skin off your knuckles as the drain plug suddenly frees itself

Andy

 

[MotardMan]

Top man Andy, many thanks.

Best,
Jim

 

[MotardMan]

Well, it is done, thanks to Nik for his help. This job is best done with 2 people, for moral and logistical reasons :lol:

I was about to remove the drain plug, when Nik suggested it might be sensible to remove the filler first in case the filler was seized in and I drained all the oil out with no way of re-filling....Top tip for you all.

I bought a 14mm drain wrench from Halfords, surprisingly good quality, it did not break, burr or misbehave, is nice and deep, and recomended. The filler plug was a git to reach as it is on the exhaust side of the diff, and is high up on the diff. Tip here: You will need a long extension bar and a breaker bar on that to shift it. I supported the joint of the breaker bar and extension, whilst Nik pushed HARD on the breaker bar. It still did not budge. We removed the drain plug removal tool, fitted a ring spanner on it, re-inserted the tool and use a combination of me pushing the spanner and Nik pushing on the breaker. It did move, slowly at first, then was spinnable by hand. RESULT!

The drain plug was tight, but easier to reach, what came out of the diff was an evil smelling, chocolate brown oil. It smelt like old scrapyards do! I squirted some fresh oil in the diff whilst the drain plug was out to make sure I had got all the old stuff out, and refilled the diff.

Job done. Took about 2 hours all told.