50 k km (30 k miles) service: Differential fluid replacement?

[mrmojorising]

Hi,

My car is about 3.5 years old and has about 50,000 km (30,000) miles on it.

I'm supposed to bring it in for service soon. I phoned the dealership and asked what they were going to do and how much it would be.

They informed that in addition to the oil and air filter change the differential fluids were supposed to be changed: front and rear differential in addition to the brake fluid. Total cost $350.

Is the change of the front and rear dif fluids in addition to the break fluid necessary? I don't tow and looked in the american service manual I found online which says at 30k miles inspect the rear and front differential oil, but didn't mention anything about changing them.

Maybe i misinterpretted the toyota service guy and they're onyl going to inspect the dif. oil (somehow) rather than change it? Why would they be charging me so much then?

Is this a canadian requirement due to the cold?

[JuneBug]

There is no front differential fluid--the front differential is part of the transaxle assembly and is lubricated by the transmission fluid. They probably meant the transfer case. Is it necessary to replace at 30,000 miles? It's your call--it's not "required" by Toyota, but is "recommended" by the dealer, that's how they make money. Look at these threads, pepepeter changed his fluids at 47,000 miles and they were pretty nasty looking:

I want to change all fluids.. but how many are there?

rear differential and transfer case gear lube

[shponkai]

in 30,000 miles, one important change is the Automatic transmission oil change. I drove for over 31,000miles and my ATF warning lights come on sometimes. So, I advise only change the ATF oil, the rest for the axle won't be that necessary.