Broken diff

Technical Area Engine, Transmission, Exhaust etc
2

Driving home tonight my noisy diff suddenly got a lot more noisy. BANG! bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang clonk.

Managed to pull off the road and into a track through the woods. No drive. Managed to push it off the track and get a lift back to work to pick up the trusty Micra loan car but have to leave the Roadster on its own in the woods for the night with snow forecast. I hope it’s still there in the morning when I’ll have to recover it.

Oh well, I think that’s the first non-service item it’s needed in it’s lifetime which isn’t bad considering it’s done 288,000 km.

I’ve been driving it for a month or so with the diff getting louder and I hadn’t got around to swapping it out so I’ve only myself to blame. It had been quiet under load but was whining on the overrun and sounded a bit like a siren for its last few miles. I had got snow tyres on the back as they don’t grit the roads I have to use to get to work, so maybe it was miffed at not having the Toyo 888’s on any more :wink:

It’s a viscous LSD and was still working pretty well and had done a fair number of track days.

I’m considering swapping to a torsen from a 1.8 or going the whole hog and changing the gearbox as well to a mk2 6-speed. I think I’ll just fit another viscous diff though as they’re lighter and I have no plans to turbo it in the future. Hmmm, I’ll see tomorrow I think.

3

Bad luck mate,  unfortunately those sounds are just starting to appear (or some similar) on my car and ive only had it 6 weeks (97 s-special), so im a bit unhappy :frowning:

got a feeling ill need to source a diff and find someone to fit it cheap :frowning:  

Obviously youre in a better position in that respect.

4

I forgot to follow this up so here’s an update.  The front bearing had failed and the front plate (that bolts to the prop) broke of, smashing a chunk out of the casing, it then snapped one of the mounting arms clean off.  I took some pictures but haven’t uploaded them as yet.

I’ve put in another diff that I had marked as ‘suspect’ and this one is noisy too, but in a different way: It’s very clonky and I suspect it may be an uprated one so it’s a bit harsh on the road, sometimes clonking on roundabouts as well as when manoevering.  I wonder how long this one will last…