How can you tell..

[Jonny671]

If a car has an LSD?

TryingHard said:

Don't think it has an LSD (I didn't check and have only driven it about 3 miles)

From another thread.. I've got an LSD on mine, and have driven quite a few cars but how do you know by driving if it has one?

[TryingHard]

Jack up the rear and turn one of the wheels.

I can't remember which way but I think:
If they turn the same way it is an LSD.
If they turn opposite it is open.


Alternatively find a private bit of road, give it beans and dump the clutch. A nice set of 11's will probably indicate an LSD. A single wheel spinning is open. A more sensible approach is to park one wheel on wet grass and one on tarmac. If the wheel on wet grass just spins and you don't move the diff is open, if you pull away well it is an LSD.

ETA: From memory I believe the LSD's on the 1.6 are viscous and can effectively wear to become open diffs, where the 1.8 is torsion???? and so should remain an LSD.

Someone with more knowledge will be along soon and may well say the above is bks. If they do, take their word for it ;-)

Edited by TryingHard on Friday 2nd July 11:43

[Jonny671]

TryingHard said:

Jack up the rear and turn one of the wheels.

I can't remember which way but I think:
If they turn the same way it is an LSD.
If they turn opposite it is open.


Alternatively find a private bit of road, give it beans and dump the clutch. A nice set of 11's will probably indicate an LSD. A single wheel spinning is open. A more sensible approach is to park one wheel on wet grass and one on tarmac. If the wheel on wet grass just spins and you don't move the diff is open, if you pull away well it is an LSD.

Okay! Thanks very much, will give it a go.

My clutch is on the way out so I recon doing the 11's will ruin it even more

If its open what does that mean?

Some people suggest you can tell it has an LSD from turning whilst driving along?

[TryingHard]

Jonny671 said:

TryingHard said:

Jack up the rear and turn one of the wheels.

I can't remember which way but I think:
If they turn the same way it is an LSD.
If they turn opposite it is open.


Alternatively find a private bit of road, give it beans and dump the clutch. A nice set of 11's will probably indicate an LSD. A single wheel spinning is open. A more sensible approach is to park one wheel on wet grass and one on tarmac. If the wheel on wet grass just spins and you don't move the diff is open, if you pull away well it is an LSD.

Okay! Thanks very much, will give it a go.

My clutch is on the way out so I recon doing the 11's will ruin it even more

If its open what does that mean?

Some people suggest you can tell it has an LSD from turning whilst driving along?

You can tell, particularly when on track. I had an open diff on my old E30 and when cornering hard if I put the power on the inside wheel (little weight on it at this point) would just spin up giving lots of smoke but naff all forward momentum. That's what an LSD will prevent, it ensures power is also fed to the loaded wheel so you can feel the difference.

[Jonny671]

TryingHard said:

Jonny671 said:

TryingHard said:

Jack up the rear and turn one of the wheels.

I can't remember which way but I think:
If they turn the same way it is an LSD.
If they turn opposite it is open.


Alternatively find a private bit of road, give it beans and dump the clutch. A nice set of 11's will probably indicate an LSD. A single wheel spinning is open. A more sensible approach is to park one wheel on wet grass and one on tarmac. If the wheel on wet grass just spins and you don't move the diff is open, if you pull away well it is an LSD.

Okay! Thanks very much, will give it a go.

My clutch is on the way out so I recon doing the 11's will ruin it even more

If its open what does that mean?

Some people suggest you can tell it has an LSD from turning whilst driving along?

You can tell, particularly when on track. I had an open diff on my old E30 and when cornering hard if I put the power on the inside wheel (little weight on it at this point) would just spin up giving lots of smoke but naff all forward momentum. That's what an LSD will prevent, it ensures power is also fed to the loaded wheel so you can feel the difference.

Would you be able to easily spin it? I can easily get the back end out on corners or on round-a-bouts.

[Disco You]

Try doing doughnuts, if you are successful then you have an LSD

[VladD]

I'm test driving a Mark 1 tomorrow and the owner doesn't know if it has a LSD or not. Can you tell by looking under the car? My mate has one with the Torsen LSD and says that it's easy to tell if the car is on ramps (the LSD casing is larger than the standard casing he says), but I'm not sure if it will be that easy with the car just on the ground.

[Jonny671]

Disco You said:

Try doing doughnuts, if you are successful then you have an LSD

Ah! I can donut it easily.. So I recon I have an LSD

[Gizmo!]

Jonny671 said:

Disco You said:

Try doing doughnuts, if you are successful then you have an LSD

Ah! I can donut it easily.. So I recon I have an LSD

I've done donuts in mine too, and it definitely doesn't