Metal in rear diff

I did my first diff fluid change in my ‘15. I have never seen metal shavings like this before. The truck is just shy of 100k, I bought it with 97k and do not know when the diff was done last. This is a bit concerning. I will do it again with my next oil change to see it there is more. The fill plug was rounded on the edges so it looks like someone has done the change prior to me doing it.
Anyone have any thoughts?

 

Yup. You’re good. As strange as this might sound, those are left-overs from the drilling / machining of the axle housing during the manufacturing process.

I’d guess this was the first change, only had level checks up till now.

 

Personally I'd pull the 3rd member and check everything out and see. Those pieces being cone shaped and then slivers just look weird.

 

That looks like pieces of metal from where a drill bit breaks through when drilling a hole. Does it look like there are any holes that have been drilled anywhere?

 

Exactly.

 

There are definitely no holes drilled in the axle anywhere. Both front and rear drain bolts had a lot of fine particles on the magnets, and the fluid was darker than I have ever seen, but I change my fluids religiously. I hope this was not the first change at almost 100,000 miles. I am going to do another change in 5,000 miles just to be safe.

 

This is normal. As stated above it looks like this was the first, possibly second change. I'd just do it again in 15k. You can take a white zip tie and use it as a dip stick to check the level, color and smell of the fluid from the fill plug when you do oil changes.

 

I’d say it normal. I found similar shavings when I first changed the diff oil after I regeared and put in lockers

 

Thanks, I did do that when I first purchased the truck. Everything looked ok, fluid was a little dark but not too bad, that was why I decided to wait until the 100,000 mark, bought with 97500.

 

I bought mine with almost the exact mileage. Same goop came out of my rear diff when I did it around 100,500. The previous owner had no documentation or knowledge to support it had been done before, so I assume it hadn't. It's fine with that kind of mileage, could be a little worn but I really doubt it.

 

My 2008 recommends 30K mile diff fluid change intervals. Good luck!

 

yes, at 100k miles its basically 4 times longer interval than rec'd

 

Normal

 

Found this in mine as well and researched it, found it to be common on 1st couple of changes..... being the drill point shaped fragments are still intact led me to believe the magnet on the drain plug is serving its purpose. If these pieces had been floating around they'd be broken down to glitter sized pieces.....

 

Interesting. I guess that's where the bit just broke thru when drilling the screw holes for the cover. I would say this is not normal, and I'd say it's unacceptable to have giant metal like that breaking loose inside a machined part. But at this point there is no choice other than to live with it- because there is no realistically sensible alternative. The bit must have just barely broken thru during the machining and then the "caps" fell off over time.

 

Found the same type of cone shaped metal piece when I changed my rear diff lube at about 43,000 miles. From the comments, it sounds common and Toyota should tighten up quality inspections.

 

Maybe one of these are in order.

 

Toyota quality. Rust frame, breaking leafs, bad suspension, grenading differentials.. Oh and 90s lego interior...

 

Looks like left over swarf from manufacturing.

 

Is swarf son of Worf?






I know what swarf is. It just made me thing of Star Trek