I managed to change my diff oil last week but I did it without jacking the car up. There’s a surprising amount of space! I used an oil syringe to fill the diff. Whole thing was about 10mins.
I am the proud owner of a 2024 ND3 Miata Club and will be changing my transmission fluid today from the Mazda fluid to the Ford XT-M5-QS Full Synthetic Manual Transmission Fluid! I am at 1400 miles and I want to switch to this fluid early as it’s said to be much better than the original fluid. I performed an initial oil change at 850 miles and switched to Pennzoil Ultra Platinum 5w30, I live in North Carolina and feel this is a better suited oil specification and wanted to get the initial fill out to rid the engine of any “break-in” material and go with a heavier oil. I am loving this Miata and am so glad I made the decision to pick it up and I am now looking at my options of what to go with as far as exhaust upgrades, just really a muffler swap, but there are so many good options and choices to be made! Thanks for the great videos you’ve compiled and I really appreciate your time!
Hyped for this! Just looked into the oil and it does have plenty of good reviews for our cars lmao. Ima go ahead and try it, but for 3 qts, it is somewhat expensive. Rn there is a deal on amazon, dropping down from about 44 to 32....So looking at 90 plus for transmission oil lol.
Very informative, but I do have some remarks from that tiny country, the Netherlands. Here we go. Re-using aluminum crush washers? No, would not recommend. They are intended for single use for a reason. When properly torquening the plugs, the new washer is crushed slightly so the soft material can go into small scratches and surface roughness of the areas to be sealed. Re-using crush washers could compromise the sealing concept, especially when not properly tightened (sorry, but handtight is unspecified, Tighten with some 25 -30 ft.lbs (34 - 40 Nm) is the way to go.) Unlike for engine oil in cranckcase, checking oil levels in diff and gearbox is impractical since there are no dipsticks, want to jack the car for oil level checks? Very slowly losing gearbox or diff oil (let's assume 1 droplet per 5 miles) will make you lose 50% of your diff oil over 35,000 miles. By then, you probably have heard some funny noises from the rear and this will be expensive too. Do not save a couple of $ by re-using crush washers, please! They are cheap life insurance for all 3 most expensive drive train parts of your loved miata: engine, gearbox and diff. Opening the fill plugs first is good advice, not using 23 and 24 mm sockets and not using a descent torque wrench not so much. For filling the diff and gearbox with fluid there are much more elegant and functional pumps on the market. They look like a 1 qrt plastic bottle with hand pump on top and transparant (!) hose with a bent metal tube to hang in diff and gearbox housing, so no need to secure fill line from dropping out (check Amazon). And a good quality manual gearbox oil 75W90 with a GL5 or GL3/GL4/GL5 spec as some brands specify, will do nicely for diff and gearbox. Warming the oil by putting still sealed (!) plastic containers halfway in a bucket of 120 F water for some 30 mins prior to filling your hand pump, makes filling a lot easier too. Mazda smartly states that non Mazda gearbox oil will give trouble in cold circumstances gear shifting. Really or smart marketing? Enjoy your Miatas, love them with proper and regular maintenance (and decent tools).
I appreciate the feedback and advice! IIRC, I didn't have the 1/2" to 3/8" adapter with me (my ratchet is a 3/8" drive and my 23 and 24mm sockets are 1/2"), so I used the crescent wrench. I made sure to tighten it all the way and not strip the bolts. Usually yes I would replace the crush washers, but I haven't had any leakage issues yet. Usually they can be used a couple of times before they cause any leak, certainly before they would cause any significant leakage. But I agree, generally you would want to replace the washers, they are cheap insurance! Handtight, I generally say thread the bolt on by hand until it won't spin, then tighten down another quarter to half turn or so with the ratchet, usually you can feel when it's tight. Again I've always done this with oil drain bolts without issue, and I believe the vast majority of mechanics do as well. That being said, absolutely nothing wrong with doing it the proper way and thank you for providing the torque spec. I agree, the pump I had was certainly not the best (it was cheap and old, lines weren't very flexible anymore and it tended to leak a bit). I threw it away after this job and will be getting a much better one for next time! It is true, when I put Motul Comp 75w-140 in my transmission, the cold shifting was crunchier and more difficult. I threw that fluid in because I took my car on track twice within a month and wanted a fluid that would withstand abuse and high temps better than Mazda fluid. I switched to Mazda fluid after those track sessions and right before I moved more north, where it gets a bit colder. Again, I appreciate your comment and thank you for watching!
Your channel is awesome, it’s so great be able to look your videos up in confidence for immaintenance and other installs. In your opinion, how fathomable do you think it is getting an lsd into the sport/gt models, and what might be the cheapest way to do that? Haha Edit: I forgot to recommend, you should do a tutorial on unclogging the drainage route for water, I’m pretty good at keeping my car covered but spring time hits and sometimes I’ll be out when it starts pouring, there’s some videos on RUclips but I think you’d do a much better job of explaining the process
Thank you so much! I try my best to add value to this space. I think getting an LSD into the sport or gt models would be a bit of effort as you would need to undo the driveshaft, axles, powerplant frame, and probably some more. If possible, I would just go with a club model, GT with GT-S package, or the 2020+ GT models come with the limited slip by default. That would probably be worth it compared to trying to source a LSD from Mazda or second-hand and then having to swap it as well. Maybe I can do a video of the drain cleaning soon! I've done it once before but probably would be worth doing again soon. I thought
Only 20??? That dealer is nuts! I could always get it by the individual quart/liter at the dealerships I’ve been to. I found it at some places online too, including here: www.mazdaparts.org/mazda-moly-oil-0w20.html
Great guide, thank you! I also have a 19 Club, looking to change the diff oil myself. It's been making a whining sound at low speed when I turn sharp. Do you know where to get the OEM diff fluid and the crush washer?
Uh oh, it's coming from the diff, not the steering system? Mine does too but I thought it might be the EPS system straining. I got the OEM fluid from the Mazda dealer I used to work at. They should have the washer too. If not you can grab any washer that size from an auto parts or home improvement store.
@@DriveMX5 i feel like it's from the diff. Some other people on Miata forum reported the same thing, so I just chalked it up to LSD doing it's thing...
Hey man, Just wondering, what colour is the long life gear oil IS? Is it red/pink in tint? We can't get small bottles where we are but the dealer was happy to decant a bit from their large barrel. However, upon checking. The colour looks a bit reddish. Just making sure they didn't give me ATF by mistake. Thanks!
@@jjrosaria that’s a great question, unfortunately I do not remember for sure but I don’t believe it was red. I’d reach back out to the dealer to double check, maybe one of their techs can confirm
Thank you! I got them at my local Mazda dealership, although I can’t quite remember the price. Each dealership should have some in stock or be able to get it within a day or so
Subscribed, interesting info on your channel as a ND 2.0 Sport Bilstein Recaro (as it's called over here in Europe) owner. What time did it take approx. to do both tasks supposed you have everything ready upfront from oils, the right wrenches, drain pan, car jacked up etc.?
Thank you! I would say it took about 2 hours start to finish. Pumping the oil into the trans and diff takes a bit of time and usually there is some cleanup involved as well.
@@DaveSimkus Nope, not yet, I found the oil still new, but it should be straight forward action in changing it, Just no need for full flushing if its the first time, only drain and refill..
How do i know when its time to change diff oil? Im about to go to the casa tom and there changing the transmission and coolant along with the brake fluid but i never heard to diff oil
I don't even see it in the Mazda service manual, but it's not a bad idea to change it when you change the trans oil. My main purpose for changing it is that I was tracking the car and driving it more spiritedly, so it was for my own peace of mind and ensuring the car was in tip top shape
It's not only that Mazda uses some kind of solenoid. I don't remember exactly but there was a notice issued by Mazda to all dealerships recommending not to use oil filters with ADV on skyactive engine
www.fcpeuro.com/products/competition-gear-oil-75w140-1-liter-101161?ads_cmpid=1586641325&ads_adid=62615222609&ads_matchtype=&ads_network=g&ads_creative=298302774914&ads_targetid=pla-59910985102&ttv=2&gclid=Cj0KCQiA6NOPBhCPARIsAHAy2zBRu5fv1aMdPDAVGfuodKxhI0ckGtFUzhPLSBVYxUnT5AdQRnEUbrEaAsUnEALw_wcB I think this is where I got it from. FCP Euro has a lifetime warranty on everything they sell, even fluids
I'm buying a one owner 2020 RF, has hardly been broken in with only 8,000km on it. I always do all of my own maintenance, but have never had a car this new. Would you reckon it would be a good idea to change my diff and gear oil early to remove any break in material that's suspended in the factory fill?
If it makes you feel better then go ahead, but I think it’s unnecessary at such low mileage. I’ve heard that it’s good to change engine oil every 6 months or so if the car isn’t driven much, but haven’t heard the same about transmission or differential oils
I managed to change my diff oil last week but I did it without jacking the car up. There’s a surprising amount of space! I used an oil syringe to fill the diff. Whole thing was about 10mins.
I am the proud owner of a 2024 ND3 Miata Club and will be changing my transmission fluid today from the Mazda fluid to the Ford XT-M5-QS Full Synthetic Manual Transmission Fluid! I am at 1400 miles and I want to switch to this fluid early as it’s said to be much better than the original fluid.
I performed an initial oil change at 850 miles and switched to Pennzoil Ultra Platinum 5w30, I live in North Carolina and feel this is a better suited oil specification and wanted to get the initial fill out to rid the engine of any “break-in” material and go with a heavier oil.
I am loving this Miata and am so glad I made the decision to pick it up and I am now looking at my options of what to go with as far as exhaust upgrades, just really a muffler swap, but there are so many good options and choices to be made!
Thanks for the great videos you’ve compiled and I really appreciate your time!
Hyped for this! Just looked into the oil and it does have plenty of good reviews for our cars lmao. Ima go ahead and try it, but for 3 qts, it is somewhat expensive. Rn there is a deal on amazon, dropping down from about 44 to 32....So looking at 90 plus for transmission oil lol.
Best channel for Miata owner, period. Thanks for sharing great contents!
Just a heads up, the maintenence schedule for MANUAL transmission fluid is every 30k miles. Auto trans fluid is 60k.
Thanks for this. Just changed the trans/diff fluid on my 16 w/ 17k miles. Luckily, i have access to a shop lift so took me no time to do it!
Thank you for watching, I'm glad it was helpful! I'm jealous of your shop lift haha. Hopefully one day I'll have one too!
Great video! Can’t wait to see what’s next!
Very informative, but I do have some remarks from that tiny country, the Netherlands. Here we go. Re-using aluminum crush washers? No, would not recommend. They are intended for single use for a reason. When properly torquening the plugs, the new washer is crushed slightly so the soft material can go into small scratches and surface roughness of the areas to be sealed. Re-using crush washers could compromise the sealing concept, especially when not properly tightened (sorry, but handtight is unspecified, Tighten with some 25 -30 ft.lbs (34 - 40 Nm) is the way to go.) Unlike for engine oil in cranckcase, checking oil levels in diff and gearbox is impractical since there are no dipsticks, want to jack the car for oil level checks? Very slowly losing gearbox or diff oil (let's assume 1 droplet per 5 miles) will make you lose 50% of your diff oil over 35,000 miles. By then, you probably have heard some funny noises from the rear and this will be expensive too. Do not save a couple of $ by re-using crush washers, please! They are cheap life insurance for all 3 most expensive drive train parts of your loved miata: engine, gearbox and diff.
Opening the fill plugs first is good advice, not using 23 and 24 mm sockets and not using a descent torque wrench not so much.
For filling the diff and gearbox with fluid there are much more elegant and functional pumps on the market. They look like a 1 qrt plastic bottle with hand pump on top and transparant (!) hose with a bent metal tube to hang in diff and gearbox housing, so no need to secure fill line from dropping out (check Amazon). And a good quality manual gearbox oil 75W90 with a GL5 or GL3/GL4/GL5 spec as some brands specify, will do nicely for diff and gearbox. Warming the oil by putting still sealed (!) plastic containers halfway in a bucket of 120 F water for some 30 mins prior to filling your hand pump, makes filling a lot easier too. Mazda smartly states that non Mazda gearbox oil will give trouble in cold circumstances gear shifting. Really or smart marketing? Enjoy your Miatas, love them with proper and regular maintenance (and decent tools).
I appreciate the feedback and advice! IIRC, I didn't have the 1/2" to 3/8" adapter with me (my ratchet is a 3/8" drive and my 23 and 24mm sockets are 1/2"), so I used the crescent wrench. I made sure to tighten it all the way and not strip the bolts.
Usually yes I would replace the crush washers, but I haven't had any leakage issues yet. Usually they can be used a couple of times before they cause any leak, certainly before they would cause any significant leakage. But I agree, generally you would want to replace the washers, they are cheap insurance!
Handtight, I generally say thread the bolt on by hand until it won't spin, then tighten down another quarter to half turn or so with the ratchet, usually you can feel when it's tight. Again I've always done this with oil drain bolts without issue, and I believe the vast majority of mechanics do as well. That being said, absolutely nothing wrong with doing it the proper way and thank you for providing the torque spec.
I agree, the pump I had was certainly not the best (it was cheap and old, lines weren't very flexible anymore and it tended to leak a bit). I threw it away after this job and will be getting a much better one for next time!
It is true, when I put Motul Comp 75w-140 in my transmission, the cold shifting was crunchier and more difficult. I threw that fluid in because I took my car on track twice within a month and wanted a fluid that would withstand abuse and high temps better than Mazda fluid. I switched to Mazda fluid after those track sessions and right before I moved more north, where it gets a bit colder.
Again, I appreciate your comment and thank you for watching!
YES SIR! Next up
Your channel is awesome, it’s so great be able to look your videos up in confidence for immaintenance and other installs.
In your opinion, how fathomable do you think it is getting an lsd into the sport/gt models, and what might be the cheapest way to do that? Haha
Edit: I forgot to recommend, you should do a tutorial on unclogging the drainage route for water, I’m pretty good at keeping my car covered but spring time hits and sometimes I’ll be out when it starts pouring, there’s some videos on RUclips but I think you’d do a much better job of explaining the process
Thank you so much! I try my best to add value to this space. I think getting an LSD into the sport or gt models would be a bit of effort as you would need to undo the driveshaft, axles, powerplant frame, and probably some more. If possible, I would just go with a club model, GT with GT-S package, or the 2020+ GT models come with the limited slip by default. That would probably be worth it compared to trying to source a LSD from Mazda or second-hand and then having to swap it as well.
Maybe I can do a video of the drain cleaning soon! I've done it once before but probably would be worth doing again soon. I thought
Thanks for the help, I'm struggling to find the genuine oil, can only buy 20 litres from the dealer. Where did you get it from?
Only 20??? That dealer is nuts! I could always get it by the individual quart/liter at the dealerships I’ve been to. I found it at some places online too, including here: www.mazdaparts.org/mazda-moly-oil-0w20.html
@@DriveMX5 thank you, I'm in the UK so maybe it's different here.
@@ConquerDriving Love your videos, did you end up getting the genuine oil from somewhere? Having the same issue finding genuine mazda oil in UK
Great guide, thank you! I also have a 19 Club, looking to change the diff oil myself. It's been making a whining sound at low speed when I turn sharp. Do you know where to get the OEM diff fluid and the crush washer?
Uh oh, it's coming from the diff, not the steering system? Mine does too but I thought it might be the EPS system straining. I got the OEM fluid from the Mazda dealer I used to work at. They should have the washer too. If not you can grab any washer that size from an auto parts or home improvement store.
@@DriveMX5 i feel like it's from the diff. Some other people on Miata forum reported the same thing, so I just chalked it up to LSD doing it's thing...
Hey man, Just wondering, what colour is the long life gear oil IS? Is it red/pink in tint? We can't get small bottles where we are but the dealer was happy to decant a bit from their large barrel. However, upon checking. The colour looks a bit reddish. Just making sure they didn't give me ATF by mistake.
Thanks!
@@jjrosaria that’s a great question, unfortunately I do not remember for sure but I don’t believe it was red. I’d reach back out to the dealer to double check, maybe one of their techs can confirm
Hey!!! I am just curious as to where I can get the transmission fluid. I can't seem to find it anywhere. Awesome video!!!
Thank you! I got them at my local Mazda dealership, although I can’t quite remember the price. Each dealership should have some in stock or be able to get it within a day or so
@@DriveMX5 oh! thanks!! I shall go to my dealership then. Thank you so much!!
Subscribed, interesting info on your channel as a ND 2.0 Sport Bilstein Recaro (as it's called over here in Europe) owner.
What time did it take approx. to do both tasks supposed you have everything ready upfront from oils, the right wrenches, drain pan, car jacked up etc.?
Thank you! I would say it took about 2 hours start to finish. Pumping the oil into the trans and diff takes a bit of time and usually there is some cleanup involved as well.
is it the same thing amount of transmission oil on Automatic miata?
No, I believe those use a lot more fluid. The capacity for it should be in the owner’s manual or found online
Hey, did you change your automatic transmission fluid? I need to do it on my ND1 but I can't figure out what oil and how much to use.
@@DaveSimkus Nope, not yet, I found the oil still new, but it should be straight forward action in changing it, Just no need for full flushing if its the first time, only drain and refill..
How do i know when its time to change diff oil?
Im about to go to the casa tom and there changing the transmission and coolant along with the brake fluid but i never heard to diff oil
I don't even see it in the Mazda service manual, but it's not a bad idea to change it when you change the trans oil. My main purpose for changing it is that I was tracking the car and driving it more spiritedly, so it was for my own peace of mind and ensuring the car was in tip top shape
What’s the part number on your differential fluid? Going to be changing my differential fluid soon, thanks!
I believe this is it: 0000-77-SG1-QT. I can confirm for you when I get back into the dealership on Thursday.
Can you please post the link from where you got the transmission oil
I got the trans fluid from the local Mazda dealership
Don't use an amsoil oil filter. I recommend sticking with Mazda oil filter because the ND Miata doesn't need an ADV in the oil filter
Thanks for that comment! I'm guessing this is because the filter screws on upside down? Makes logical sense now that I think about it lol
It's not only that Mazda uses some kind of solenoid. I don't remember exactly but there was a notice issued by Mazda to all dealerships recommending not to use oil filters with ADV on skyactive engine
Did you torque the drain and fill bolt or just tightened with hand?
Just hand tighten. I’ve always done that for drain bolts and haven’t stripped one or had one loosen up on me yet! 🤞🏻
Can you link the mutul comp gear oil you used?
www.fcpeuro.com/products/competition-gear-oil-75w140-1-liter-101161?ads_cmpid=1586641325&ads_adid=62615222609&ads_matchtype=&ads_network=g&ads_creative=298302774914&ads_targetid=pla-59910985102&ttv=2&gclid=Cj0KCQiA6NOPBhCPARIsAHAy2zBRu5fv1aMdPDAVGfuodKxhI0ckGtFUzhPLSBVYxUnT5AdQRnEUbrEaAsUnEALw_wcB
I think this is where I got it from. FCP Euro has a lifetime warranty on everything they sell, even fluids
Where did you find those mazda OEM gear oils? Can't find them anywhere...
I got them from my local dealership
@@DriveMX5 Thank you! I'll call them. Awesome video!
god bless you
Where to find the oil, it’s not on the Mazda website
You should be able to buy it at any Mazda dealership. That’s where I got mine from
I'm buying a one owner 2020 RF, has hardly been broken in with only 8,000km on it.
I always do all of my own maintenance, but have never had a car this new.
Would you reckon it would be a good idea to change my diff and gear oil early to remove any break in material that's suspended in the factory fill?
If it makes you feel better then go ahead, but I think it’s unnecessary at such low mileage. I’ve heard that it’s good to change engine oil every 6 months or so if the car isn’t driven much, but haven’t heard the same about transmission or differential oils
Is the 2016 diff the same?
It should be. I’m not aware of any differences