checkin' fluid in rear end.........

[99 Bird 'o Fire]

i decided to check it today.. i thought u were supposed to take the plug out ( the one that takes a 3/8 ratchet). and see if u can feel some oil, well i took mine out and oil comes pouring out @ me.. WTF!!! my car is sittin on level ground soo i mean i thought there wasn't a drain plug... can anyone tell me what wrong with this picture...????

[Dominic]

Normal.

You fill the diffy until it comes out and then plug it. If you open it there, it might pour out the fill hole.

[AZ3.8Camaro]

Much better than not being able to find any fluid at all!!! :D

[fenderman]

Yeah, this plug on the differential is not a drain plug. It sits too high on the differential housing to effectively drain all the fluid. If you do in fact decide to take the fluid out through this hole, you will need some kind of pump to reach into the bottom.

Since the fluid was "pouring" as you say, the only thing I can think of is that the person who serviced the differential or even the person who put fluid in it from the factory raised one end of the rear axle up slightly to accomodate more fluid which would also mean more at the plug when the differential is level. However, I would not really be concerned about this unless the entire differential housing was full, as the oil does expand as it heats up. But a little over the top wont hurt you.