00'Camry is differential fluid separate from trans?

[Unkle Kevin]

It says in a repair manual they are separate,I see a drain plug on the differential but no fill plug,I see where the fill plug should be but there's no hole (just the in-dentation of a hole). I need to change the fluid it has 82.000 and don't know if it's ever been changed,any help would be great. It's an XLE V-6

[touringcamry]

What engine do you have?

The I4 auto differential has separate fluid from the transmission. The fill plug is a 17mm plug facing the steering rack or firewall. I can't remember what's back there exactly but there isn't much space. It's pointed towards the rear of the vehicle for sure though.

Easiest way I found to fill the differential is to get a 3-4 ft piece of 3/8" ID PVC hose, put it in the fill hole and thread the other end to the top of the engine bay. Put a drain pan under the opening fill hole. Get a funnel and a barb fitting to fit between the funnel and the hose. Pour the fluid into the funnel until fluid comes out of the fill hole.

[bigbird]

i may be wrong, but tranny fluid is different then dif. fluid(different viscosity) and cant be interchanged.

[Unkle Kevin]

I see from looking at pictures where the fill plug should be but there is no plug or threades just a blank spot so now I'm wondering if it IS seperate. My owners manual says it's the same fluid for both trans. and diff.I don't want to pull the drain plug on the diff. if I can't fill it up! It's a V-6

[touringcamry]

Originally Posted by bigbird

i may be wrong, but tranny fluid is different then dif. fluid(different viscosity) and cant be interchanged.

Some Toyotas use Dex III for the transmission and the differential. Some (if not all) Toyota power steering systems and some manual transmission use DEX III ATF also.

Originally Posted by Unkle Kevin

I see from looking at pictures where the fill plug should be but there is no plug or threades just a blank spot so now I'm wondering if it IS seperate. My owners manual says it's the same fluid for both trans. and diff.I don't want to pull the drain plug on the diff. if I can't fill it up! It's a V-6

Don't quote me on this, but I *think* that on the V6, the transmission and differential share the fluid but there are two drains for some reason - prolly so you can get all the fluid out. I think I remember reading that someone posting that they accidentally discovered that their transmission and differential shared the fluid. I don't remember if that was a Camry V6 or not though.

Have you looked at the factory service manual, available to you if you go the general Camry forum and look for the sticky at the top or searching previous posts. I'm fairly certain that this issue has come up before.

[Eye8Pussies]

^ what touringcamry said

It was most likely me who posted the original fact, as I asked my mechanic about this years ago when there was basically no way that I could get my diff drain bolt off after so many years of not being touched.

the 4banger tranny has entirely separate diffs and tranny
the v6 transmission shares the same fluid with two different drains and refills, so technically, enough changes of the regular tranny drain and fill will change all the fluid in the tranny eventually including the differential