OEM LSD Question

[heshan]

Guys,

Since recently my car's diff has been very loud.

I recently took it out from the mechanics after a major upgrade and I was promised that the sound is to be expected with a LSD diff.

However, I cannot remember it being this loud and clunky.

Its makes a loud clunks when going on 1st around 10-20kmph and I turn my steering even around 10 degrees. If the steering is straight-no issues.

I'm wondering whether my mechanic has reduced play in my diff making if lock up with no forgiveness or is my diff finally feeling its age and about to die?

I got a second opinion and I was promised that this sound is OK however its very loud and in crowded areas heads turn but for the wrong reason when I'm taking a slow corner

The 2nd mechanic took the diff out and I personally saw it as well and from the outside it looked in very good condition.

Also I replaced by axle bearings and razors around 2 weeks ago and that reduced the massive hum that was there in my car however the diff noise didn't reduce at all.

Any help will be much appreciated.

This is my car through a good lens;

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=...597&type=1

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One more thing, I can't remember my diff being loud when reversing however, now it jumps and clunks when on a very slow reversings as well.

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One last bit of info;

I was told to use SAE90 transmission oil on my diff. It may be due to this. I was recommended to change this to 85w140 to reduce the noise.

I'm planning to test this out unless I hear otherwise from you.

[Ivan141]

If you have the stock LSD then there is a good chance of it being broken. The only way you can tell from outside is usually some marks on the clutch members from where they rubbed the pinion wheel.
Try turning your drive shaft by hand with the car parked (rear wheels locked). If there is significant play (say 5mm) then it's almost certainly a broken diff.

The stock LSD is not usually noisy, aftermarket LSD's can be. As long as you use LSD specific oils
you should be fine. I would be surprised to break an LSD, certainly not behind an SR20.

[heshan]

hmm thats not great news

The play that I have now is similar to what I've had since I got the car however this noise is recent.

The guy who put my SR20DET on the car used it for a few (quite a few I would assume) and is a racer as well. I would assume he'd have pushed it hard if its broken as the diff was perfectly OK when I gave the car for the build.

Is there anyway to tell whether the diff is OK or not once the diff is taken out of the housing without dismantling it?

[Ivan141]

It's really impossible to tell from the outside. Sometimes you see the teeth mark from the pinion on the LSD, but that's caused by the pinion going out of alignment first (and often taking the LSD out in the process). I've had one broken LSD, and the only way to tell was the excessive play in the driveshaft. It even locked up for drifting, although locking up because of debris being squeezed together is not exactly how toyota meant it to work.

[heshan]

I tried turning the diff by hand n it moved freely n smoothly.

Guess its back to the garage.....

[totta Crolla]

Sounds like it may have an aftermarket differential fitted rather than an OEM one.

[heshan]

That's very unlikely as the never had any others on it which was after market.

Now the chatter seem louder to me.

After the "alleged" diff play reduction was done I feel the car harderlt moves on neutral. Its harder to push which I was easily able to do before.

Im hoping its what u said gotta but that's not possible.

Hopefully its something that's fixable using a rebuild n bearing kit

[totta Crolla]

Have you checked that the rear calipers are not now binding after being removed ?
I'm wondering about the possibility of a binding brake loading the differential and making it chatter ??

[heshan]

Hmm that's a very good point. The brakes were changed to s13 front disc n calipers..

[heshan]

Update:

Removed diff today n I was told its the clutch plates that have worn off that's creating the noise.

Will upload some pics.

Planning to order a TRD rebuild kit for this n hopefully things will b back to normal