Differential Help

[Silver98]

I need some help changing my Differential fluid. I did it, and found out that ATF is only a temporary solution. What is the Amsoil product for my differential in my 1998 real time 4WD? I am told only Double pump will work but there has to be an Amsoil equal for the CVT vehicles. Anyone know what that is?

[2RedV's]

I need some help changing my Differential fluid. I did it, and found out that ATF is only a temporary solution. What is the Amsoil product for my differential in my 1998 real time 4WD? I am told only Double pump will work but there has to be an Amsoil equal for the CVT vehicles. Anyone know what that is?NO AMSOIL !
YOU WILL RUIN THE CLUTCH PACK! It does not use the same fluid as the CVT vehicles either.

It is not A GEAR OIL. IT IS A SPECIAL FORMULATION HYDRAULIC FLUID!

Get the ATF out of there immediately. Do a double drain and fill, per the tech bulletin. Drain it, fill, drive for a few minutes and repeat. Use only Honda Dual-Pump fluid.

[Silver98]

Okay so what decent brand name makes the Synthetic Double Pump fluid and where to I get it?

[2RedV's]

Okay so what decent brand name makes the Synthetic Double Pump fluid and where to I get it?You buy the Honda fluid. There are no aftermarket fluid replacements.

[WestBank]

I had my 2002 CR-V at the dealership recently for a differential fluid change. The service manager pulled up and printed a special notice sent to all dealers about grinding noises in the differential after changing the oil. The "clutch pack" requires some special test on it after the oil is changed so you do not experience a grinding noise in your differential when making left hand turns. They failed to do the test to my car after changing the fluid and two days later the grinding noise developed and sounded like wheel was going to fall off. They performed the clutchpack test, changed the oil again (no charge) and the sound went away. This is my 3rd CR-V that had this issue too. Have a good weekend. Alex in Toledo.

[2RedV's]

I had my 2002 CR-V at the dealership recently for a differential fluid change. The service manager pulled up and printed a special notice sent to all dealers about grinding noises in the differential after changing the oil. The "clutch pack" requires some special test on it after the oil is changed so you do not experience a grinding noise in your differential when making left hand turns. They failed to do the test to my car after changing the fluid and two days later the grinding noise developed and sounded like wheel was going to fall off. They performed the clutchpack test, changed the oil again (no charge) and the sound went away. This is my 3rd CR-V that had this issue too. Have a good weekend. Alex in Toledo.Welcome to the forum! :)

It doesn't require a "test". If the fluid has gone for way too long without being changed (30k miles is a good number for a 1997-2004, 15k miles for a 2005+) then it may need to be drained and filled twice to ensure all of the contaminated fluid is removed. The procedure is called a clutch burnishing and essentially duplicates about 10 minutes of full time AWD operation ( which means slight, additional clutch pack wear).

The real issue is that people, for some unknown reason, refuse to perform this simple maintenance item on their all wheel drive vehicles and then complain about issues later on. Jeep differentials have a major issue with lack of maintenance and are even more expensive than a CR-V's to replace, later on.

[Greenzter]

The real issue is that people, for some unknown reason, refuse to perform this simple maintenance item on their all wheel drive vehicles and then complain about issues later on.
Ok. Here we go again. :rolleyes:

The 'unknown reason' is that people follow the maintenance schedule published by HONDA.

Are you saying that since I had not changed my fluid at 19K miles when I noticed the noise, I have no right to complain?

[2RedV's]

Ok. Here we go again. :rolleyes:

The 'unknown reason' is that people follow the maintenance schedule published by HONDA.

Are you saying that since I had not changed my fluid at 19K miles when I noticed the noise, I have no right to complain?You should complain. I never said not to. The service schedule was wrong (corrected for 07/08 with the Maintenance Minder) and complaining is the only way to get Honda to correct the situation. Our local dealer did it for free as warranty on our 04 at around 15k miles with no questions, no arguing. If all dealers were as customer service oriented as mine, Honda would have addressed this issue sooner. However, since dealers make much more money from a paying customer vs warranty reimbursement, they try to make the customer pay full price.

Look over the posts on oil changes and the Maintenance Minder. Note how many of those people ignore Honda's (or any other manufacturer) oil change intervals and do it sooner (more often) than required. Yet those same people then refuse to change brake fluid every 3 years, change the tranny fluid, power steering fluid, etc. when suggested by the service schedule. You will even find posts asking how long the timing can go past 7 years/105k miles! Yikes.