Okay, before I go dump a whole bunch of money on getting a new rear end, I thought I would try to change the fluid (differential) in the back. But where is the place to check it and what to replace it with? I am completely blank. I have this nasty clunking noise that goes whenever I accelerate or slow down. I already changed my the brake pads, had the rotors resurfaced and got new tires on this thing. I thought maybe it was a bent rim, so I bought a new one. Same noise is still there in the rear passenger side. Now it also seems like it is coming from the rear driver's side too. I never have even changed or looked at the fluid in the rear. So if anybody can point me in the right direction, I would appreciate it. The car only has 32,000 miles. I want to get it back running good. Thanks!

Edit: I asked over in the section for rear ends, but got no responses, so please don't move it over there Maybe someone can help here.

 

you need 80w gear oil. the drain plug is on the bottom at the front and the fill plug is above it on the passenger side of the housing.

when i bought my car, it had a rear end leak from the factory. i took the diff cover off and cleaned it up then put the cover back on using the RTV gasket maker. when you pull the diff cover, there is a magnet on it. check and see if there are any big metal chunks on it.

the clunk may be a bad u-joint. put your car in gear and twist the driveshaft. if you can move it, you need new u-joints. i don't see them going out that fast though. i bought my 2000 new and it now has 65,000 on it and they're fine. do you do a lot of hard burn outs?

and who did your gears? did the noise start after they were added?

 

Thank you for the response. They are the factory gears. The noise started after driving it around for awhile. I don't do any burn outs or race a lot from diggs. I heard about rear ends going out so I take it easy. Now this how come about. I am going to try to fluid change to see if that helps. Would it need it even though it seems to coming from only one side? Thanks again.

 

it's not hard to pull the cover off and check the rear end. you can see the diff sitting there. for that matter, it's really not hard to pull the entire axle apart. the u-joints are probably the most common cause for the clunk you hear when starting forward or backing up. there is slack in the driveshaft rotation and when you go, the noise is the slack being taken up before it reaches resistance and starts to move the car.

 

Are the U-joints easily replaceable? I was going to check the fluid tomorrow in the afternoon as soon as get off of work. If it is full, then I am going to look into replaceing the u-joints. Or am I better off getting a new rear end and maybe upgrading to one with higher gears or something. Thanks again!