Differential Vent Tube venting on track days

[cloud9]

Well that answers one question for now. I'm swapping pads rotors and wheels today for my Thursday track day at MPH. I was thinking of just putting the turkey baster on the axle and leaving the vent on top of the diff for now instead of capping that with the bolt I remove from the axle. I see the turkey baster comes with some yellow loctite so I assume you just snugged it tight with a 13mm wrench and called it a day?

 

[cloud9]

Thanks for the post Steve. I installed TSB 10-3-7 a.k.a. the turkey baster today. When I loosened the axle bolt, there was a small amount of pressure release so I'm wondering if it's still not a little overfilled. I'm heading to the track Thursday so we'll see what happens. Looks like it's a good fix, but if it's still a little overfilled, it may vent just a bit more. I cleaned everything up so if there's fresh fluid, it should show up....not to mention hopefully I won't get all greasy tying it down to the trailer ;D



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[BossJockey]

Thanks for the post Steve. I installed TSB 10-3-7 a.k.a. the turkey baster today. When I loosened the axle bolt, there was a small amount of pressure release so I'm wondering if it's still not a little overfilled. I'm heading to the track Thursday so we'll see what happens. Looks like it's a good fix, but if it's still a little overfilled, it may vent just a bit more. I cleaned everything up so if there's fresh fluid, it should show up....not to mention hopefully I won't get all greasy tying it down to the trailer ;D

Did you check the fluid level in the rear diff? The Boss supplement states to "fill 1/4 - 9/16 inch below bottom of fill hole." When I check mine it was just below the treads (factor fill). Also just for fun I remove the the axle bolt that you did and there was also a small amount of pressure release as well.

 

[cloud9]

Update on the turkey baster. I didn't have any fluid venting from it or the factory vent so it appears to do the job. However, it did come in contact with the exhaust, presumably when the suspension fully compressed, and it melted part of the white cap. It still appears to function properly.



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[stuntman]

Overfilled diffs will puke excessive fluid out of the vents. Open the fill plug on level ground, let the excess oil drain out, tighten fill plug, and you probably won't have any more issues.

 

[ArizonaBOSS]

The proper fill level for the diff is about 1" BELOW the fill plug, so even the "level ground" bit won't work correctly.

 

[yokev]

The proper fill level for the diff is about 1" BELOW the fill plug, so even the "level ground" bit won't work correctly.

Sure it will.
Firstly, when dealing with fill lines, you ALWAYS need to have the car sitting on LEVEL ground. Secondly, if it's over-filled and above the bottom threads, it'll drain out until a little below. After that it's simply a matter of sucking out the amount of fluid necessary to get the level correct. Being on a LEVEL surface is absolutely CRUCIAL when doing this.
FWIW, there's a cheap 'tool' made for adding/removing fluid from motorcycle forks that works perfectly for this yob. It's a syringe with a hose and small metal tube coming out of the bottom. You simply stick it in the hole and pull the plunger on the syringe. They're cheap, and a lot of dealers(motorcycle) and aftermarket parts stores have 'em.

 

[06mach1]

I installed the "turkey baster" in place of the breather on the top of the cover. Lots of room up there. I took the breather out of the cover, installed the baster in that hole. Then I installed the fitting that I took out of the cover in the top of the baster, instead of the plastic fitting. Used a couple of small clamps to hold everything in place. Works great!

 

[cloud9]

Thanks 06Mach1. I ordered another baster and got under there last night. There is plenty of room with the UCA up there. I went ahead and installed a second turkey baster on top of the diff cover so I'm now double basted ;D



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[VoodooBoss]

Gary do you need both? Were you leaking oil from both spots?

 

[ArizonaBOSS]

I will have another data point on all this business after this weekend. So far no issues, but on a more technical track. This next one should have more shifting and sustained high-RPM runs.

 

[cloud9]

Gary do you need both? Were you leaking oil from both spots?

I was only venting fluid from the factory vent at the top of the diff. The baster on the axle had the vent slightly melted when it came in contact with the exhaust. It probably would still vent but I didn't want to count on it as my only option if the pressure pushed it beyond the fluid capacity of a single baster. It does however provide some additional overflow capacity. So basically I now have double the overflow capacity I would have with just a single baster on top of the diff as is called for in the TSB, and if that still isn't enough it will vent out of the top of the one on the diff.

 

[PeteInCT]

I contacted Jay Tucker at JLT Performance asking about a more formidable solution than Ford's rubber 'turkey baster'. I was thinking of bastardizing one of the JLT Oil Seperator units for this purpose, but Jay reports that JLT may have an offering soon themselves. I requested that he ping me if/when they do - I will post if I hear any more on this.

Clound9 - Tnx for the details on the turkey baster, it'll get installed this weekend as the LS gets prepped for it's winter nap.

 

[VoodooBoss]

There's already a nice one available but how much do you want to spend? ;D I think it was ArizonaGT that posted a link to the product and I have it saved at home. I'll post it this evening.

 

[PeteInCT]

I'd go for up to $200 - I saw one in a thread (this one?) but it looked like a poor prototype. Last thing we need is RedLine lightweight all over turn 3 ;D

 

[VoodooBoss]

There's another one that looks like a nice piece but I don't have the link available at the moment.

 

[ArizonaBOSS]

I think mine puked out a little bit this last event w/ the long straight and 140mph speeds. Gary mentioned earlier that he thought the high speeds he's getting at BIR is the catalyst for this to happen; I think he's right.

Not much mess in my case, but a guy behind me said I had faint smoke trails on the top end of the track (probably from the fluid getting on the exhaust).

 

[PeteInCT]

Arizona - Are you runing the stock diff girdle with the vent cap at the top of the girdle?

I'm curious becuase I think overall it's a better location than the placement used on the GT's on the left rear axle (it's higher up and well above the 'water line' of the diff fluid). I switched out girdles and lost that vent location (I needed to move back to left side axle with the PN#4222 vent). I since have the 'turkey baster' Ford created for TSB 10-3-7, but as Cloud9 has pointed out it's plastic vent cap may be susceptable to melting if it hits the left side exhaust pipe under heavy spring compression.

 

[ArizonaBOSS]

Stock girdle w/ the upper vent. No vent on the axle tube.

 

[PeteInCT]

Cloud9 has a turkey baster on the axle and the rear diff. When on the rear diff it looks like it has no reason to hit anything, no the less an exhaust pipe.