To properly drain the front/rear differential and transfer-case you must have the Giulia lifted as level as you can for a proper filling of those units.

I used four jack stands, but that can be tricky to do on the Giulia due to it not have any exposed pinch welds. I had to use a special floor jack called a U-jack that allowed placement of the jack-stands with the floor jack still supporting the car at the jack points.

The front differential drain plug is hard to get to without special slim/short H8 bits. You can just suck out the front differential gear oil from the fill port as that is easier to remove.

The way I had to remove and tighten down my front differential drain plug due to the tight space. I used a slim H8 bit. The slim H8 bit with the 11mm hex head also work perfectly with a 11mm racketing wrench to remove the transmission pan fill plug without needing to remove the driveshaft in the Q4 models.

 

Lovely, thank you!

I assume you did not reset anything on software side, correct?

I hear most mechanica do not bother anyway with that stuff

 

I do not have to reset any modules or engine parameters for the gear oil changes.

 

Yeah, I think I dug around for that and didn't find anything in MES. Maybe AlfaOBD has something.

 

Best to have the oil at full operating temperature (a LONG drive to get it hot) before you drain it. Allow it to to drain until it drips about one drop, every minute. Overnight, if possible.

 

1. car needs to be level - how you'll do it it's up to you.

2. AlfaOBD has oil reset procedure for transfer case. it's even named as "Transfer case reset" I think. not sure, maybe latest MES version 5.3 has it too.
both rear and front diffs are dumb mechanical parts and don't need any resets.

 

@shpuncik @AlfaAndy and others -

Over on the Stelvio Forum, a member @ALFAOFFROAD , performed a MES (MultiEcuScan) "Power Down Calibration" on his Magna Q4 Transfer Case.

NOTE: My version of MES is 4.9, and the name of the procedure is Power Down Calibration. In later versions of MES, the name might have changed.

This procedure within MES allows recalibration for accumulated wear of the clutches/components within the Magna Q4 Transfer Case.

MES Path: System/Gearbox/Magna Q4 Transfer Case AND THEN F7 / Adjustments, Power Down Calibration

From the yellow description box/section when Power Down Calibration is chosen;
"This procedure allows to calibrate compensation for the mechanical wear of transfer case components."
"The following is necessary for proper execution of this procedure: - engine running"
"Turn the key OFF and wait 60 seconds after successful execution of this procedure to let the ECU reset its internal registers."

Observation: It is one of the few calibrations that I've noticed requires that you have the car running when performing. ALFAOFFROAD remarked that he had positive results.

Read Post #'s 13, 15 and 16 at the following link.

https://www.stelvioforum.com/thread...m.com/threads/multi-air-reset-with-oil-change.22303/?post_id=213700#post-213700

Hope this helps -

 

^^ I am not sure where you got the information about the transfer-case needing an oil reset procedure for an gear oil drain and fill, but the service manual make no mention of any special procedures needed for an fluid change. The transfer-case reset is probably related to an repair which may need to reset the actuator to a new chain or something, but not a fluid change only.

 

@carguy75, the procedure outlined above does not mention DRAINING and REFILLING the case with new fluid. It merely mentions filling (topping off) the case to the proper level. Perhaps this could be similar to what is done when changing the engine oil and resetting the reminders. This has been mentioned in other threads. Apparently the engine ECU-PCM monitors the age and use (miles or km) of the engine oil and changes, who knows what, with the MultiAir and/or fuel and spark (and who knows what else) in the control of the engine as the engine oil ages. Then, when you change the engine oil and reset the reminders, it knows that there is new oil and, BINGO, it changes, who knows what. Could be the same with the transfer case too. @shpuncik, @Beta Romeo, do you agree?

 

The service manual do not recommend an transfer-case fluid change at all; therefore no service reminder to be reset like with the engine oil. The transfer-case module is not advanced enough to know if the fluid has been drained/filled as it has no level sensor.

Generally; reset parameter options are for some mechanical part replacement/ repair that requires some calibration of the clutches or gear system.

 

I thought it was previously mentioned that the reset is only for the QVs.

 

both MES and AlfaOBD have most functions which are in original dealer tool. can't check what procedures are in dealer's tool for transfer case at the moment. maybe @Beta Romeo will know more.

for now in AlfaOBD v2.5.5.0 I see these functions for transfer case:

"Transfer Case reset" is the one which mentions oil change:

in MES 4.8 functions are same as in AlfaOBD minus "Transfer Case reset" function:

from my experience BMW uses very similar transfer case and it has reset procedure after oil change.


don't confuse yourself with rear diff adaptations/reset on QV.

 

"Lifetime oil" is total BS. When the automatic transmission begins to fail at 100k, 150k miles and the first thing people think/do is change the fluid. Fluid comes out like black water with glitter bits. Doesn't improve trans problem. Needs to be replaced. $$$$$. It's marketing BS. "Our cars are so great, engine oil lasts for 10-15-20K miles, no need to change any other oils". That might work for the majority of folks who buy every 4-5 years and trade before 100k. If you plan on keeping your vehicle for more than 100k, change all the oils. As for the resets, I will roll the dice and say, it can't hurt, and probably helps.

 

I agree with most of the post, but not the module reset on the Giulia. Based on how sensitive/touchy the modules are on the Giulia you may end up bricking it by trying to reset it. I will not touch a module parameters or setting unless absolutely necessary. Just me.

 

^^^^^^

Also, Dude, "glitter bits" is not the preferred nomenclature.

Stripper Glitter, please!