How to Check Front Differential Fluid 2002-09 Toyota 4Runner

Hey friends, it's Len here from 1A Auto. Today we're going to be working on our 2006 Toyota 4Runner. I want to show you how to check your front differential fluid. One of the first things you're going to need some safety glasses. I just want to state, if you need any parts, check us out, 1AAuto.com. Let's get right in it.

I'm going to take my 10 millimeter Allen head socket. It's a size 10. I'm go right up into this plug right here. It's right up next to the axle and on top of where this skid shield is. We'll get it right up on there. That feels pretty good. Now I'm going to use a reducer because I like to use a nice long 1/2 inch ratchet and the socket itself is a three eight drive, so I just got to reducer on there. You can of course use a 3/8 ratchet if you'd rather, but I like to have some nice leverage for this. So here we go. We're going to turn this counterclockwise and it should want to break free. Awesome.

I've got my bucket under here waiting for me. Something to note is that you could have fluid coming down here, right, so this right here is a little plug in case you don't feel like taking down your whole skid plate here, which is actually very simple by the way. There's only four 12 millimeter bolts to take down, but you don't really necessarily need to. What I will show you though is this little plug, just take a screwdriver or pry bar or whatever you've got and that should just pop right out of there. I'll show you what it looks like. Cool. Set that aside.

Now, when fluid decides it wants to come out of this, assuming it might be a little bit over full, it has a place to come out and we've got our collection bucket down there so we make sure we're not contaminating the environment. We care about the environment. We've got our fill plug here. It's got a little gasket. I'm just going to take my rag, clean up this gasket. That looks pretty decent. Clean up the threads on the fill plug and we'll set this stuff aside.

Now, what I'm going to do is I'm just going to take my gloved finger. If you don't have gloves on, definitely don't put chemicals onto your skin. I'm not recommending that you do that in any way. If you have a metal coat hanger or something that's bendable or even maybe a small screwdriver, you could probably try sticking it in. Just go at a downward angle then see if you get a little bit of fluid on your finger. All right. Let me see if we can get some. It looks as though this fluids a little bit low because I'm really not getting very much of anything on the tip of my finger, so I would like to add to this. We'll grab some fluid and I'll show you how to add.

I'm just going to try to get this bottle in here and then... There we go. Just put a couple little squirts. Awesome. Put that down. Okay. Now, assuming you just added your fluid, right, stick your finger in, you know that it's full. That looks good. We're just going to take our fill plug that we know is nice and clean, put it right up in here, turn it clockwise or to the right. Awesome.

Now, it's time to snug this up. You don't need a big, long ratchet like this to tighten them up. I always just grab all the way up or you can use a smaller ratchet. Once it's bottomed out, just give it a teeny bit more and then that's it. I'm not holding down here. I'm not trying to break anything. It's not about breaking anything or showing anybody how strong I am. You just want to make sure that it's bottomed out and then just a teeny bit more and then that's it. If you made any mess that came down onto the skid shield, just clean it down with a nice clean rag or a dirty rag, whatever you've got. A rag, clean your mess. Make sure that there's no way any gear oil could make its way onto the ground. Take your little plug, slide it up in there. That's it. Easy peasy.

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