Anybody performed this and could point me in the direction of a DIY?

thanks.

 

I just did mine over the weekend. Pretty simple for the rear and a bit more complicated in the front.

You need the following:

1. Allen Key (I believe it was #10.)
2. Drain Pan
3. Oil pump with flexible tubing.
4. 3L of 75W-90 synthetic gear oil.
5. A way to jack up the car and level.

And be sure to do this when the car is cold, so that you don't burn yourself.

Rear: I think it was #10 allen key. There is a drain plug on the bottom of the differentual, and a fill plug on the passenger side to the rear of the axle. Raise your car, make sure it is level, loosen fill plug and drain plug to drain. Tighten drain plug, fill until slowly drips out. Spec says 1.8L, but mine only took about 1.5L. I used Audi fluid, which is 75W-90 synthetic gear oil. Any other synthetic with the same weight should be fine.

Front: It is PITA to replace this especially you have big hands. FYI, there is no drain plug, so you have to use flexible tubing with hand pump to suck out the fluid. Fill plug is on the passenger side. I used a flexible socket head, and was tight to access it. Then you have to snake the tubing to pump out the oil. Book says 0.8L, but I was only able to get out about 0.4L. Once the old fluid is out, pump some new fluid through the pump to clear out junk oil. Then fill until it slowly drips out.

 

Cool thanks.

So for both front and rear I can use the same fluid right?

Also, is the front before or after the transmission pan?

 

Same fluid for both front and rear. The front fill hole is on the passenger side right next to the axle. So it is in front of the transmission pan, but only higher.

 

Thanks.
Would it be a bad thing to only do the rear diff?

 

One is better than nothing.

 

There is also a center differential. The fill plug is almost impossible to even see, near the front center driveshaft CV joint flange on the right side. Unfortunately, it is directly above the catalytic converter pipes. So on a 1998 Audi A6 2.8L wagon with the AFC 2valve engine and C4 chassis, the catalytic converters, a heat shield, and a crossmember had to be removed. The rear O2 sensor wire terminals had to be disconnected.