Transmission and Rear Diff Fluid Change without jacks?

[thisisbrianly]

Hi all,

Thanks for all the info on this forum, it's great! I am going to change the Rear Diff and Trans fluids in my wife's V tomorrow night and wondering if this is possible without jacking it up. It seems like there might be just enough room to slide under there. For those of you that have done it, which side of the car do you slide under to get to each of the plugs? I read both the stickies, but couldn't quite find much info on how to contort your body to get to the plugs

Any advice is appreciated, thanks guys!

[twl845]

One of the first things I confirmed about my new 2010 CRV 4WD was that I can't slide under the car without turning my head sideways and keeping my arms flat. I'm sure there's some small person who says he/she can change their oil without jacking up one side of the front, but not me. I doubt you won't have better luck in the back either. I think the car is 8" off the ground. At 15k I changed the rear differential fluid at the dealership.

[crvee]

No need to get under the car for the tranny change, the drain plug is right up front.

I've had no problem getting to the differential without jacking up the car and i'm 5-11 185. Use the hand pump method to fill, much easier than the tube through the wheel well procedure.


http://www.autozone.com/autozone/acc...mString=search

[genep]

No need to get under the car for the tranny change, the drain plug is right up front.

I've had no problem getting to the differential without jacking up the car and i'm 5-11 185. Use the hand pump method to fill, much easier than the tube through the wheel well procedure.


http://www.autozone.com/autozone/acc...mString=search

That hand pump looks like it would work well. Thanks for posting that.

[Accord]

That hand pump is the way to go. Use your foot to break the bolt free.

[fixer]

You should be able to slide under it if you want to. I have an 07 and I am 6.2 200lb and did not find it confined in there. You can slide under from either side or the back just make sure your arms are ahead of you. The fill plug is on the passenger side behind the axle and towards the top. The drain is on the driver's side, ahead of the axle near the bottom. Tip. Make sure you can loosen the fill plug before you drain the case. Duh. If the fill plug is really stuck go in feet first after setting the breaker bar in the plug, and use your foot to push the bar.

[thisisbrianly]

Thanks guys! Did both trans and diff last night successfully! I spent about an hour trying to break the bolts and was about to give up...I couldn't fit the breaker bar underneath with the car on the floor. Went to the store and bought a set of ramps so I could use my bar - took all of 15 seconds with the bar!

Both fluids looked surprisingly clean still (CRV just passed 30k), but have much better piece of mind now. Thanks again for the help!

[seejayh]

I did both the engine oil, rear diff and atf a couple weeks ago without lifting the car. Just lay on your back and slide under the front and rear of the CRV. They are both fairly easy to get at. Having both a 3/8" breaker bar and a 3/8" rachet available is a plus. I also had a short piece of pipe to put on the ratchet to get more leverage.

I thought my ATF looked pretty clean too until I put some in a plastic cup; it was actually very dark compared to what I was putting in.

[fsdogwood]

For both ATF and oil, I used to use a 3/8" wrench, and a rubber mallet to loose it.

However, last time I had to get a universal impact joint to take the ATF nut off. I even tried to raise the CRV by lifting up
at the wrench, however, the weight of the car didn't help move the nut. Instead, 1 pull of the impact trigger solved the
problem.

For my 03 CRV, there's no need to jack it up for ATF change.

I think my first rear diff change was done by setting 1 wheel on curb, 1 wheel on road.