Gear noise, 2010 car, TADTS or concern?

[boombang]

Test drove a 2010 car with LSD recently. Unsure what diff but believe is factory fitted.

It was noisy off throttle when in gear, sounded like a straight cut gearset but I suspect it to be diff or CWP, a whining noise with mild buzz you could hear but not feel.

Reading up the views vary from they all do that to walk away.

Seller (dealer) said all the noises were typical. Off the gas the geartrain can whine, you can get odd clonk turning tight at low speed and coming off throttle, and some are noiser than others but it doesn't necessarily mean an issue either way.

Any owner views?

[upsidedownmark]

I'd be in the TADTS camp. The gearbox is bolted to the chassis - somewhat directly, not through a bunch of rubber isolation, and it's likely a plate type diff. A few have torsen types, but most are plated, clonks and the like are to be expected. Added to that, you're sitting basically on it with no sound isolation..

FWIW mine whines in 5th only (type 9 ford box with LSD). Diff clonks occasionally, but is generally one of the more well behaved ones (it's a bit of a dice roll there). Clonk turning tight is classic plated diff btw.

That said, if it bothers you, and is going to be detrimental to your enjoyment, walk on. However I suspect if you look at others, they'll all do the same.

[boombang]

Thanks for the steer. I doesn't bother me, just having owned an ancient Westfield (albeit an open diff) years ago that was near silent in terms of drive/geartrain I was curious.

It was, a couple of issues aside, a lovely car.

[peter2704]

its weird to me ? how can so many cars be noisy . My Westfield was silent,my caterham talks to me as i drive,it is putting me off the car tbh

[DCL]

2008 to 2010 is probably the worst time in Caterham's history for noisy diffs. It was a time when supply of Fords diff ran out and aftermarket crown wheel and pinions where used with a poor set-up. They later changed to the BMW diff. The good news is that the noise does not effect the serviceability or reliability of the diff and they are every bit as strong. The easiest cure is obtain a genuine and early Ford diff and get it overhauled (and LSD swapped if it has one) by one of the Caterham expert diff companies such as Road & Race Transmissions.

Edited by DCL on Wednesday 22 June 17:05

[peter2704]

so i thought sod this, lets have a look at the ford diff.I marked and adjusted the castellated bearing adjusters to eliminate any lash/play between the pinion and output drive shafts,took it for a spin and the difference is unbelievable, no drive train clunk, the whine has greatly reduced ,its like a totally different car ,love it

[BertBert]

That's very interesting. It's an area where I don't go, gearboxes and diffs as I have no idea how to get the clearances set properly!

How did you go about it? The obvious question is whether they were set where they were for a reason?