AT and front diff.

when i purchased my 93 legacy AT 4wd the front differiential dip stick was missing and arag had been zip tied over the hole. no auto parts store or internet store had one so i went to the junk yard yesterday and got one.

first issue my front differintial is wayyyyyyy over filled and the fluid in the front diff is red. ( might just be red differiential fluid or....)

any ideas on why someone would do this and what i should do?

drained a little more than 5 quarts ( not kidding or being dramatic). the repair manual says it takes 1.8 quarts on a full drain.

i just hope this didnt do any damage, i think its been like this for a while

i saw another form on here with someone who had a similar problem with later generations. i guess a lot of subarus have the tranny dip stick where the early diff. dip stick goes and they assume all subarus are a like

Its probably ATF that someone threw in there. Like mnstrmech said, about 1 quart of GL5 and you're good. I'm just surprised the ATF didn't leak out. I did the same thing after I bought my first Subaru and it all leaked out. Only difference was that I drained the tranny of fluid and changed the filter and gasket and THEN dumped tranny fluid into the diff. So not only was my diff full of Dexron IV but my tranny was bone dry. Needless to say I packed it in for the night and the next day when I went to drain my mistake I found that literally every drop had leaked out the CV seals. I flushed it with GL5 before I refilled it and it never leaked again. Never got dirty either, if anything I think it helped clean up the bearings and seals a bit.

Another time I was in a super rush trying to do a tranny flush and filter change and an oil change at the same time on my Pathfinder. Well I thought I would be mister one-man-pitstop and I let all the fluids drain at once, threw the tranny filter on, threw the oil filter on and immediately started fillind with fluid. I filled the engine with oil through the valve cover like you're supposed to, then I pulled what I THOUGHT was the tranny dipstick and started filling with ATF. I got about 5 quarts in and it overflowed. Started it up and the motor ran like crap. Truck wouldn't move. I soon realized that ATF was pouring out of EVERY seal on this motor. Valve covers, front main, cam seals, just everywhere. I drained the motor, flushed with fresh oil, filled with more fresh oil, filled the tranny, and when I was done the motor ran better than ever. I swear there is some friction modifier in ATF that resurfaces worn friction surfaces or something because every time I accidentally fill something with it the results are amazing. I would seriously consider ATF for a motor flush if I believed in snake oils like that. Besides, most of that "Real" motor flush stuff is BS anyway...

Its probably ATF that someone threw in there. Like mnstrmech said, about 1 quart of GL5 and you're good. I'm just surprised the ATF didn't leak out. I did the same thing after I bought my first Subaru and it all leaked out. Only difference was that I drained the tranny of fluid and changed the filter and gasket and THEN dumped tranny fluid into the diff. So not only was my diff full of Dexron IV but my tranny was bone dry. Needless to say I packed it in for the night and the next day when I went to drain my mistake I found that literally every drop had leaked out the CV seals. I flushed it with GL5 before I refilled it and it never leaked again. Never got dirty either, if anything I think it helped clean up the bearings and seals a bit.

 

Another time I was in a super rush trying to do a tranny flush and filter change and an oil change at the same time on my Pathfinder. Well I thought I would be mister one-man-pitstop and I let all the fluids drain at once, threw the tranny filter on, threw the oil filter on and immediately started fillind with fluid. I filled the engine with oil through the valve cover like you're supposed to, then I pulled what I THOUGHT was the tranny dipstick and started filling with ATF. I got about 5 quarts in and it overflowed. Started it up and the motor ran like crap. Truck wouldn't move. I soon realized that ATF was pouring out of EVERY seal on this motor. Valve covers, front main, cam seals, just everywhere. I drained the motor, flushed with fresh oil, filled with more fresh oil, filled the tranny, and when I was done the motor ran better than ever. I swear there is some friction modifier in ATF that resurfaces worn friction surfaces or something because every time I accidentally fill something with it the results are amazing. I would seriously consider ATF for a motor flush if I believed in snake oils like that. Besides, most of that "Real" motor flush stuff is BS anyway...

I use atf to clean out oil from engines that have had head gaskets or intake gaskets go bad and get coolant in the oil pan... works great!!

okay guys its been a while and the problem has returned!!!

i smelled a familiar burning and when i pop the hood my new dipstick that i worked so hard to find was gone!! blown off and there was a tiny hue of red in my front diff fluid. went to the junk yard again and got two new dipsticks. but pressue is still building up AND holding. i literally have to relive pressure every few trips

is there a breather tube somewhere that might be clogged? i think its werid it builds and holds pressue.

could the transmission leaking into the differential cause this?

whats going to happen if i ignore the problem?

how hard is it to fix?

I use atf to clean out oil from engines that have had head gaskets or intake gaskets go bad and get coolant in the oil pan... works great!!

My buddy the mechanic gave me the same recommendation for cleaning out all the oil pathways in my sitting-for-9-years motor. He suggested adding about 1 quart of atf and running it for 20 minutes, then changing the oil.