Could anyone tell me the capacity for the front and rear diff oil? The rear from what I found is about 1.5 quarts but it would be nice to know what the spec actually is.

Has anyone changed the transfer case oil themselves? I would like to avoid getting robbed by the dealership if I can avoid it.

Thanks!

Front diff spec:

1-3/4 pint (US)
API GL-5 SAE 80W90 gear oil


Rear diff spec:

3 pint (US)
API GL-5 SAE 75W90 Synthetic gear oil


Transfer case:

Part time 4WD:

2-1/8 quarts (US)
Genuine Nissan Type "D" ATF


All-mode 4WD:

3-1/8 quart (US)
Genuine Nissan Type "D" ATF

I've replaced the transfer case fluid in both types. It's not much different than servicing the diffs. Drain and refill to the edge of the hole. Nissan recommends replacing the crush washers on the drain plugs on both the diffs and the transfer case plugs, but I've never had any problems re-using the old ones. The hardest part is refilling the diffs and transfer case. I use a fluid transfer pump that I purchased at a Marine supplies store and a 1/2" rubber hose (IIRC) cut to size so that it slides right into the gear oil or ATF bottles. The other hose fits into the fill holes and a few, easy pumps and it's a done deal, exchanging the bottle as they empty until the unit are filled. Works great!

Thanks for the info, that is a HUGE help! I know what is on my weekend to do list now....

Make sure you have allen sockets as the drain plugs; I think they were 10mm. I used Walmart's synthetic 75W90 gear oil for both the front and rear diffs. I use Valvoline Maxlife ATF in the R51 transmissions and transfer cases and it's always worked fine.

SMJ:
Got everything changed today. Thanks for the help getting the specs to me. The 10mm allen socket with a breaker bar made things super easy to change out. I was able to reuse all the plug gaskets and avoided the dealer stealing my $. Paid about 20% of what the dealer wanted to do it and now I have a fluid transfer pump and a metric allen socket set!

What fluids did you swap with?
I've heard good reviews about Amsoil

I used Mobile 1 75w90 in the rear,Valvoline 80w90 in the front, and Valvoline maxlife atf for the transfer case. If you are doing it yourself I HIGHLY recommend investing $10 into a hand pump that attaches to the oil bottles to fill after draining, AND a 10mm hex tip socket.

I also used the pump to flush about half a quart of fluid through each before re installing the drain plug. Basically waited until clean fluid was coming out the drain before putting the plug back in. Now that I know how easy and cheap it is to replace fluids I will start changing it more often than every 50k miles.

I'm on the fence on what to use for Gear oil (and transfer case fluid, though I can supposedly just use Dextron III?) A lot of people seem to do Mobil 1 and Valvoline, I've also looked at Amsoil. I've also heard you can use 75w90 on both rear and front diffs instead of splitting it up as the manual dictates. Thoughts?

Amsoil has been making synthetic oil for many years and is very good but a bit pricey. A lot of people use the Mobil One synthetic gear oil because it is widely available and reasonably priced. If you plan on doing a lot of serious off-roading and severe duty driving, there might be cause to go with a high dollar synthetic gear oil like Amsoil and Royal Purple, but for the average Pathfinder owner, the off the shelf synthetic gear oils more widely available are more than suitable. There is not a whole lot of difference between 75W90 and 80W90. The "75W" and "80W" are winter ratings. The 74W90 will be slightly thinner at very cold temperatures but both with be similar at normal operating temperatures.
As far as the transfer case, Nissan calls for Type "D" ATF. Type "D" is the original Dexron formula and, along with Dexron II, is a slightly different viscosity than Dexron III. In a transfer case, I don't think there will any real performance difference between type "D" and Dexron III. In Nissan auto trannies that spec type "D," servicing with Dexron III has been known to cause sticking issues with the valves in the valve body. Valvoline MaxLife ATF is recommended for use in Type "D" and other Asian manufacturer transmissions that use Dexron II from the factory, as well as a number of other applications. Maxlife is synthetic based. For that reason, I'll be using Maxlife in my transfer case when I service it next week in my 06 LE. I already use Maxlife in the transfer case in an 08 SE and in both of the transmissions and have never had any problems.

I just changed my rear differential fluid. I had my pathfinder backed up on ramps so a little angle.

I got over a quart out of the rear end. And than when I filled it it took 1 and 1/2 quarts to fill it to the fill.

You guys say it should only take 3 pints?

tommymonza wrote:I just changed my rear differential fluid. I had my pathfinder backed up on ramps so a little angle.

I got over a quart out of the rear end. And than when I filled it it took 1 and 1/2 quarts to fill it to the fill.

You guys say it should only take 3 pints?

2 pints = 1 quart
3 pints = 1-1/2 quart

smj999smj wrote:

tommymonza wrote:I just changed my rear differential fluid. I had my pathfinder backed up on ramps so a little angle.

I got over a quart out of the rear end. And than when I filled it it took 1 and 1/2 quarts to fill it to the fill.

You guys say it should only take 3 pints?

2 pints = 1 quart
3 pints = 1-1/2 quart

Duh

Holy crap I need to go back to school.

Or try just turning my brain on.

smj999smj wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 11, 2012 8:08 pm

Transfer case:

Part time 4WD:

2-1/8 quarts (US)
Genuine Nissan Type "D" ATF


All-mode 4WD:

3-1/8 quart (US)
Genuine Nissan Type "D" ATF

Quick question here.. if i remember correctly the v6 LE w/Auto transfer case is the "All-Mode 4wd" correct?

Technically, it's "Auto-mode," but, "yes." The Auto-mode transfer case has a wet clutch and therefore requires a lot more fluid. It's easy to tell which you have because the transfer case selector switch will have an "AUTO" option on it; the standard transfer case models will not.

thanks, ill grab an extra bottle