Our Mustang is presently at the shop. We want to change the oil in the rear end. We know on Chevies and Pontiacs that there is a cover plates on the differentials. These we know are easy to drain the oil out. We were told by the shop that the Fords are different. We haven't actually seen the rear end. They are talking about pulling the axles and the pumpkin has to be taken the apart. Does this sound right to you?

 

No, it sounds stupid. Stick a siphon or draw pump tube in there and suck out the old oil. Anyone, even Jiffy Lube, can do this. They are WAY over-doing it.

 

I wouldn't exactly say they are WAY over-doing it. What they are saying is what I would consider the PROPER way to do it but I HAVE done the siphon thing also. It's not as easy as it sounds with heavy gear oil, though.

 

We drive the car before siphoning the gear oil out. Driving heats up and thins it temporarily. With the car not running though I suppose a heat gun could help too.

 

The advantage to pulling the pumpkin is you can then add a drain plug to the bottom. If you pull the pumpkin the axles have to be removed first.

 

The disadvantage to removing the diff is you have to replace the seals and gaskets. I don't see the big attraction for having a drain. Ten years from now, if you even still own the car, you might be thinking about changing it again. Lessee, stick tube in diff, draw out oil, pump in new oil, 15 minutes, tops. Or you can pull the axles and diff, clean out all the oil to prevent fire, drill drain hole, weld on drain bung, replace wheel seals, coupla hours. So now having the drain makes changing the diff oil a minute quicker, since you don't have to insert the drain hose. If you change the oil every year (ridiculous, I know) in only 50 or 60 years you might break even on the work it took to install the drain.

 

That's what I've always done and it works well.

 

Thanks! We're going to pump it out.

 

I put a drain plug in mine. And I change my fluid at least 2x a year. A lot of it depends on how hard you drive and how hot the climate is. I beat my car a lot in a hot climate, so the oil gets flogged.

 

Depends on how hard you drive it. If you're on it hard then adding the drain is worth the time and effort because you should be chaecking the rear more often. If you're not driving it hard then I'd say no.