Diff Options...
Diff Options...
Author
Discussion

450Nick

Original Poster:

4,027 posts

234 months

Monday 2nd July 2018
quotequote all
Hi all,

I'm becoming concerned about my diff. I recently noticed that it was starting to make rather a lot of noise when driving, so I had the oil changed when the car was MOT'd. The garage said the oil that came out of it was thick and sludgy and looked like it hadn't been changed for years, which is odd as it definitely should have been by a couple of garages! The noise all but went away with the new oil, but then I noticed a few drops of oil under the car when left, and when changing the fuel pipes the other day I had a look and it looks like there is some leakage from the drive shaft outputs (propshaft seal is dry), and maybe the rear cover seal. The last few days the diff has started making a little bit of noise, but only when hot and generally on deceleration.

So first question, there seems to be an oil leak. What's the process to replace the seals - can this be done reasonably by me in the garage or is it a send off job?

Next question, is it likely that the internals need some work? It's done around 85k miles so has had a reasonably long life but it doesn't sound bad by any stretch.

I always told myself that if the diff needed rebuilding then I would simply swap it out for a Quaife ATB. These look to be around 1k for the parts, is this a job that could be done at home as a guts swap from my original diff or is it a send away type of job? Just trying to get a feel for the potential issue and forward planning at the moment...

Engineer1949

1,423 posts

166 months

Monday 2nd July 2018
quotequote all
btr or gkn.


john

N7GTX

8,257 posts

165 months

Monday 2nd July 2018
quotequote all
Building a diff is not for the inexperienced and you will need some special tools to do it correctly. As John says, the early cars have GKN diffs and the later ones BTRs which are about the same price as you have quoted for the Quaife.

Sardonicus

19,295 posts

243 months

Monday 2nd July 2018
quotequote all
Nick will have a BTR and like mentioned not for DIY , you have pinion bearings to preload and pinion to crown wheel mesh to set up for starters if you start swapping out the internals

450Nick

Original Poster:

4,027 posts

234 months

Tuesday 3rd July 2018
quotequote all
Yes sorry mine is a BTR. Sounds like not a job for me then if I go the quaife route... I'm thinking it probably doesn't need such major work just yet but I'll speak to John Reid and see what I'm in for when I decide to. Is it worth looking at changing the seals now then or just top it up and watch it for now?

OleVix

1,438 posts

170 months

Wednesday 4th July 2018
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I changed my BTR for a Quaife and it works great. Only issue is theres a slight mechanical slack because the ATB is all gears. I was hoping to get rid of the "clunk" I get when going on / off the pedal some times, but no luck

jesfirth

1,743 posts

264 months

Wednesday 4th July 2018
quotequote all
try competition transmission services at markyate just north of the M25. really good work and their charges are very reasonable.