(hopefully you live up wind of the bay and landfill !!)

Yep, did the bay area tech thing as well, looks like we moved in opposite direction - you south and me north :-)

Traffic is the main thing I don't miss about the bay area - the food on the other-hand........

 

I did like the San Jose area. Used to live in Tx, then got offered to work for Apple. So moved and did that for few years. However noticed the amount of taxes and other things that the Cali lifestyle offers. So decided to move back to Tx. Combined with a great opportunity that came up at the time, made the move back.
Liked the weather, liked the food (was real nice).

I am good for now, though still have son in college in the area. So I am sure I may be there sometime in near future.


If any of you stop by Austin, Tx, let me know. I will be glad to meet any of you.

 

When I removed the passenger wheel, I looked towards the front final drive, and was able to see the inspect plug, as well as the drain plug.
Have a pic of what I saw, will post when get a change.
So if you end up doing this first, I would say car lifted off ground, and passenger tire off, along with the wheel lining. Then you will see the drain plug. Can remove fill plug, then remove the drain plug, do the fill and close the fill plug. I still hope to do this soon, have to. Take care.

 

Here is the pic I took of the area of front final drive, showing inspect plug and the drain plug.
Have not tried to do change yet, waiting to see if someone else managed to do.
Some chimed in with a lift, so hope maybe they did. If not, I will try.
Worst case, I can remove inspection plug, siphon old oil out, measure qty (new fill qty is about half quart), and pump new oil in. Can repeat later, so ensure mort old oil is gone. Would still work, but prefer to find proper way to drain it all at once.

Help is greatly appreciated.

 

You did a good job to take the picture of the front Axle. I would say to remove the shield.
Please update us whatever way you find the best to get the job done.
You are very GOOD, bud.

Many Thanks

 

You did a good job to take the picture of the front Axle. I would say to remove the shield.
Please update us whatever way you find the best to get the job done.
You are very GOOD, bud.

Many Thanks

 

Completed rear diff fluid change -- no issues. Only difference is that my 4S does not have the heat shield around the differential - other than that procedure went well and was pretty easy.

Front fluid change attempt: Had some issues.

1. I was able to access both fill and drain plugs though the wheel well after removing the wheel and turning the hub full lock to the left.
2. Fill plug is an easy reach with a standard hex socket with about a 12" extension.
3. Drain plug access is tight. It is a Torx-50. Not a 7mm hex. I purchased a new plug so I was able to check this out on the bench.
4. I made a short T-50 by cutting off the bit part from an extra 3/8" T-50 socket I had. Using that and an 8mm wrench was able to get reasonable access and torque on the plug. The wrench is 12" long box end, so I can get a fairly good pull on it. Access is from underneath and the rear.
5. Problem at this point is I have been unable to remove the drain plug. I have tried PB-Blaster + time and also heated plug with propane torch (you can just get one in there).. So far I have not been able to get the plug to budge. Will be continuing to soak over next day or so.
6. I'll give an update in a few days.

If I could get the drain plug out -- this job is very doable without removing the rear lower axle support. You will have to clean up the drained oil from the top of the support members -- it is going to make a mess.

Upper plug is hex key, lower plug is off-color at the bottom (has brown center from soaking/dirty torn bit). This is view from wheel well.

 

Do you have someone who could apply a little impact to it while you try to turn it? might just help free it up

good luck

 

Yes, give it a couple days with lots of penetrating oil.
As to the mess, the good news is that the front final drive only needs about 0.42L, less than a half of a quart.
So I plan to put shop towels on top of the support brace, to soak up any oil coming out.
Will give it a shot on weekend I hope, that is the only fluid left I have to do, well, other than PDCC reservoir and fluid too, which I hope to do relatively soon.
Got my PDK fluid changed and actually got to use the launch control for the first time, put a big smile on my teenage son's face.
Noticed from your remarks, drain plug you saw was T50. Mine is a hex bolt only. Supposed to have magnetic end to collect shavings.
Strange there is a difference. Thank you for your efforts, gives me new info on getting this done.

 

Spray some oil on it and let it soaking. Do you have harbor freight torque? That would give you some leverage to release a plug. Please give us an update and hope you get it out.

 

As an update, I did the front final drive fluid change over the weekend. Have a DIY posted on this forum here.
Basically, only used the fill hole. Pumped out the entire content of the final drive (change quantity is 4.2L 0.425L ), via the fill hole using Autozone pump that fits over a quart bottle.
Then used an empty oil can, placed the change amount into it, added another 1/4" to the bottle (pump will not suck everything out of the bottle, and some stays in tubing).
Worked like a charm. As soon as I pumped in the full amount, oil started leaking from fill hole. The extra I added was left in the bottle. Fluid change = DONE.

 

4.2l??

 

OK, got me, 0.425 L for refill, or 0.525 L if filling NEW unit.

 

update: unable to get drain plug out with clearances as they are. I'm going to do the suck-out method as outlined above. I'll post a photo of the drained oil condition.

 

Completed job with no problems. I used an oil extraction device I already had to remove the fluid -- worked great. Also used the same modified sprayer jug (cleaned out) I used for the PDK fluid change to refill the fluid - worked fine. Added little over .4 liters with new fill plug & washer.

Takes a bit of positioning to get the tubing to the bottom of the unit to suck out all the fluid -- but it does work!

Ciaka -- thanks for pioneering this and putting the DIY together.

One Note: The torque values in the DIY for the front differential fluid are too high.

Here are the values from Porsche: Inspection plug is the one used to remove and refill.



Photo of removed fluid -- still see through but darker than the new fluid. I used the OEM Porsche fluid for refill.