996 Carrera factory fitted LSD questions

[BrotherMouzone]

I'm looking to buy a 996 and the one that I'm interested has factory fitted LSD (option 220).

A couple of possibly very daft questions:

A) is the system fairly robust?
B) how do I know that it's in good working order? (from test drive or inspection)

Thank you.

[griffter]

In the absence of any other replies, but also in the absence of any experience of lsd on the 996, I'm sure I've read they may not last much more than 30k miles - depending on use.

To check it works you can lift the rear wheels off the ground and turn one wheel. On a conventional diff the other wheel will turn in the opposite direction. On a lsd it should turn in the same direction. This will tell you whether there's a lsd fitted, but not whether it's worn.

You can also drive the car slowly on full steering lock and listen for tyres scrubbing from the rear but to be honest they're wide tyres and the fronts may be scrubbing also, so again, far from definitive.

I think in summary, if lsd is fitted and working it's a bonus, but should perhaps not be a deal breaker.

[BrotherMouzone]

Thank you for your reply.

I also seem to recall reading that they are not that durable.

[Sandy59]

If you put one rear wheel on a wet grass verge or similar and the other on tarmac, then try to pull away quickly. A good getaway will show it's got an LSD and it's working well.

[nbetts]

I had a 996 Carrera with Sports Chassis and LSD, admittedly it was a new car back in 1998 - I covered over 60k miles in mine over two years and had no issues with the LSD at all.

Had loads of fun at Bedford drifting the car and traction in sub-optimal conditions was excellent but then again traction is not something that 911's suffer from.

The Wet grass thing is a rough way of checking - but if it was me I would take it to an OPC or specialist and get them to measure the wear on the diff.

Have fun

[Sandy59]

I had the same spec car back in 98, great drive.
I would have another if I had the space and could actually find one, seem to be extremely rare now.

[BrotherMouzone]

Thanks ^^^

Yeah I'd love to learn to powerslide like Tiff Nedell so LSD is a bonus. My Integra DC2 has one but obviously it's FWD so a different kind of fish.