Where is the drain plug on the diff?

[dgently]

Manual says "lower right front of the housing" - can't see an obvious candidate obvious candidate on the nose casing of my '68 +2.

I understand from the archives that not all diffs were fitted with drain plugs. But can anyone describe it's location - it's not on the illustration

Thanks in advance!

[elanner]

It's in the rear cover, facing forward, right hand side. Not in the nose.

Nick

[dgently]

Sincere thanks Nick, that's crystal clear. Will check again, but I am pretty sure my diff doesn't have one of those.

[billwill]

The filler cap is fairly hard to get to from underneath the car and to top up you need an oil bottle with a 6 inch (at least) tube on the cap.

Personally I modified my car by using a cup saw drill to make a 3 inch hole in the wall of the boot near the filler cap.

The cap can then be opened from within the boot.

The hole in the boot wall is filled with a large blind grommet when not in use.

~~~~

I don't recall seeing a DRAIN cap; I presumed one had to siphon out the old oil for an oil change.

[peterexpart]

The filler cap is fairly hard to get to from underneath the car and to top up you need an oil bottle with a 6 inch (at least) tube on the cap.

Personally I modified my car by using a cup saw drill to make a 3 inch hole in the wall of the boot near the filler cap.

The cap can then be opened from within the boot.

The hole in the boot wall is filled with a large blind grommet when not in use.

~~~~

I don't recall seeing a DRAIN cap; I presumed one had to siphon out the old oil for an oil change.

And even better than that you can also set the Handbrake correctly !!

[dgently]

The drain plug WAS there after all.

Don't have access to the filler through the boot and likely to end up with multiple holes if I try to cut one Got at it from the left and used my brake bleed kit to pump the oil up into the filler. It worked well, slow but easy and tidy.

Thanks for the help!

[archigator]

Here's an earlier post showing how I addressed my differential access problem...

http://www.lotuselan.net/forums/lotus-gearbox-f37/easy-access-the-diff-t15877-15.html

Gary
'71 Sprint FHC
Miami, Florida

[dgently]

Hmmm, the access hatch looks like the way to go alright, even I could locate it over the earthing point.

Is it worth cutting one in the forward transmission tunnel for the gearbox?

[gjz30075]

I don't think it's worth it for the trans. Another hole in the frame is not good and the fill plug is accessible from below and filled from above, not easily but easier than the diff.

Greg Z

[billwill]

There is already a side hole in the transmission tunnel.
Take out the right hand seat and lift off the Tunnel padding and carpet and there it is.

You need it to get the prop shaft into the back end of the gearbox.

[posulliv]

I found this thread extremely useful, so I'm adding to it for others.

There are indeed some diff carriers that don't have a drain plug. Pictures of mine below.

I thought I was screwed when my normal gear oil suction tool was too big to fit into the fill hole.

Then I remembered I had an engine oil siphon and it did the trick.

It took several passes to drain the diff fully, I kept having to reposition the take-up. Eventually it did work.

Picture of tools needed for trans and diff fill also shown.

In my case the wrenches were 18mm open end for diff fill, 15mm open end for trans fill, and 11/16s 12-point box for the trans drain.