Metal in the Diff Fluid

[Lotro]

Hello Again,

After 3 years and a mere 30,000 K on my 2017 JK my mechanic recommended I change the diff fluid on account of my moderate offroad use and frequent creek crossings. When they changed it they found a "Christmas Tree" worth of shavings on the magnetic drain plug. It was also described as a "porcupine". The mechanic doing the work said he wouldn't expect to see that much metal after only 30K. He suggested I take it to the dealership and have them look at it under warranty, but I suspect they won't have a look, or will charge me to put it on the hoist and say "it's fine."

Has anyone else experienced this? Any ideas about what might cause this or recommendations for what to do next?

[xkid]

Do you still have warranty left? If so I would get them to check it out. I guess the magnetic plug did it’s job. Your mechanic must have refilled the differential, so how does it feel driving it? Does it make any noise?


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[Drizit]

The difficulty with taking it in at this point is now that the metal is gone they won't be able to see any issues. Don't mention water crossings when you go in though. It'll be a tough go to get any warranty on this unless you happen to get a good mechanic at the dealership who can check the gear pattern and backlash.

[Lotro]

Yeah, I think I have warranty left. I think powertrain is 5 years/100,000KM. The initial warranty was 3 years, that's up.

I'm with Drizit on this one, I mean, what are they gonna do? If they pull the plug now, they likely won't find any metal. I've only done maybe 1000km since I changed it. It drives fine. I'm thinking I should drive it through the winter and take it to the dealership in the spring maybe.

Let's pretend no warranty, what could the actual problem be? How would the dealership find it (assuming they wanted to look)?

[Drizit]

It could be gears wearing, new gears will frequently toss off a good amount of metal during break in. I have no idea if they are prebroken it. It could also be coming off failed bearings. If it's bearings there would be play in the pinion or the carrier. If there's no play you could check the backlash and run a pattern to see if the gears are in spec.