Posted on 11/1/2026
Here’s an automotive part you might not be familiar with—the differential. It’s a component that transfers power from the driveshaft to the wheels. It’s called a differential because the left and right drive wheels travel at different speeds when you make a turn. During that turn, the wheel on the outside travels farther than the one on the inside, so the outside wheel is turning faster. Your vehicle’s differential works by having gears that regulate the whole process. It has fluid inside to reduce friction between the gears. As you can imagine, those gears have a heavy load to handle, so this differential fluid helps reduce friction between the metal parts as they’re moving. The fluid also carries heat away from the gears to keep temperatures down in the differential. After a time, the heat and the loads take their toll on the differential fluid. It starts to accumulate little metal particles from the gears wearin ... read more