Differential fluid change?

Hi,

What fluid does the diff in the Forester use?

I'd base my decision on that... my old Loyale uses hypoid oil (80W-90 or close) and calls for 30k mile changes. But it's not AWD--the xfer case is just loafing most of the time, so there's probably less contamination of the fluid w/o the clutches of AWD. The oil looks pretty clean when it comes out at 30k, though there is that nice hint of a metallic sheen from wear particles (at 360k miles, I'm not gonna lose sleep over it, though!)

OTOH, I have a Camry, FWD w/ an auto, that has a separate diff from the trans, yet it uses ATF just like the trans. Toyoya calls for 30k mile changes of both trans and diff--previous owner always had both changed at 15k, which I think is ok cuz only 2 1/2 qts drains from the trans, and I'm not all that sure ATF is the best thing for diff gears, plus there's only about 3/4 qt in there anyway. It's gone almost 230k miles on that schedule.

So, I'd kind of want to look at what kinda juice is in there before deciding whether it needs to go at 15k.

Rick

That's good to know. I could not find in my manual. I had a '98 Forester totaled 2 years ago and cannot remember doing this. Unfortunately the '98 was killed at 25,000 mi. Big mistake I had made was not rotating tires and had to buy new set at 20. Hopefully when this one hits 30, I'll let the dealer have his way with it. Frank

I should change the diff oil front and rear in my 98 OBW automatic. The rear is obvious, but where do I find the drain and fill plugs for the front diff?