Changing the Oil (the experts are wrong)

[Mendel]

I like this as an example how it doesn't take a conspiracy theory to think "I know what I saw, the experts are wrong".

Please watch this short video, it's only 1:38 minutes.

Source: https://youtube.com/shorts/8uBFyVWuWsw

It's about someone who changes the oil in their differential, filling it up to the hole, and finds that the amount given in the manual is wrong. The video demonstrates this clearly.

Spoiler: What really happened--click here.

Commenters pointed out that the method only works correctly when the car is level, but the car in the video is not.
The author admits that he raised a wheel up to get a better camera view, which tilted the car, raised the hole, and led to him overfilling the differential. The manual was correct, after all.

When you think you've found an error in well established knowledge, it's usually the best course of action to figure out what you got wrong.

This was a very shallow rabbit hole, and the video's author escaped easily.
But mentally, the attitude of taking "I've found something wrong" un-self-critically (or trusting people who have this attitude) is tempting, and should prompt everyone to triple-check the evidence and their understanding of it,

 

[Mendel]

Follow-up video (2:00), just out:

Source: https://youtube.com/shorts/tomOaRKOre8

It shows what I wrote in the spoiler in the OP, in the same style as the original video.

 

[FatPhil]

When you think you've found an error in well established knowledge, it's usually the best course of action to figure out what you got wrong.

Given that I don't know of a "quart" such that two of them are 1.8L, my first guess was that the units on his bag-o-lube were different from the ones in the manuals (2 US quarts is 1.89L, so to 2 s.f. is "1.9L").. However, he is treating 3.8 pints as interchangeable with 2 quarts, so small disparities like that wouldn't be relevant.

However, I still think that he should fill it with the intended volume of liquid, not fill it till it spills out; as when he levels the car he'll have over-filled it. So he's double boobed, IMHO. However, I've never owned a car and all I know about differentials is the difference between Leibniz and Newton's notation.

 

[Mendel]

However, I've never owned a car and all I know about differentials is the difference between Leibniz and Newton's notation.

What kind of lubricant do you use for these? Midnight oil?

However, I still think that he should fill it with the intended volume of liquid, not fill it till it spills out

That is the intended amount—when the car is level.