1st gen S3 Diff Rebuild ????

[shaunwil]

Just got back from having my wheels aligned and the guy says my diff is whining heavily. Bought it second hand about 12months ago for not very much! Anybody got a rough idea of how much is would cost to rebuild a diff ?? I\'ve got my old one that can be stripped and cleaned easily without taking the car out of action.

Can you still get hold of crown wheels, pinions and Bearings for 1st gens axles ?

Cheers

Shaun

[David Nock (RIP)]

Hi Shaun,
I changed out the diff on my S3 earlier this year, due to bad play on one of the side gears causing play at the O/S rear wheel and clonking whilst driving. I had a diff off a scrapper which I bought some years ago.
They can whine for years and if you didn\'t hear it whilst driving I don\'t think it can be that bad??
Easiest thing is to swop for another 2nd hand diff because rebuilding is a real specialist job, setting backlash and that sort of thing. I\'ve got the details of a transmission specialist in the midlands if you want it. I would guess (and it\'s only a guess) that a specialist rebuild of your axle with new parts would be £400 ish???
Of course you\'ve got the baxxache of swopping over again, which ain\'t the lightest of jobs. Try full synthetic gear oil first? that might quieten it???

[mpk490p]

i would of thought you would be better off looking for a good second hand?
sure i asked when i had my first 7 (10years ago) and it was around £300 could be wrong though
Mark

[shaunwil]

Cheers guys. I do have a spare casing and diff so might go out and get a quote on the rebuild locally.

I did buy a good 2nd hand jobbie and to be honest I thought the whine was more the gearbox :Giggle

The people that did my alignment a rally car specialist on oldskool cars mainly and seem to have a good grasp. He did say that he used to work on them and a whining diff was a common issue and not to go round roundabouts to agressively. I didn\'t tell him I\'m running more bhp too.

I do like playing the radio and have got used to the cars foibles.

Shaun

[antnicuk]

if you look on ebay us, you often see LSD from the gxl\'s which fit straight in.  if your gonna replace it, you may aswell upgrade

[shaunwil]

Never even thought of the LSD option. May not be a bad idea if I plan to stick a turbo\'d lump in the engine bay in the future

Shaun

[mpk490p]

i have looked into 1 but the shipping will be horific!:eek:

[kiwimazda]

I have a diff that may be available. Will know more on the weekend. It will be cheap. Minus callipers. Its a goodin

Cheers
Brian

[shaunwil]

What year car does it come off ?? Does it have calipers on the back ? Your a long way away !

Shaun

[kiwimazda]

It will fit yours. It has 114.3 pcd. Or you could just buy the CWP off me as I have a box that will fit in and courior. Hey presto.

There is a bloke with first dibs on it and I will know more about that by sunday night

Cheers
Brian

[shaunwil]

ok. I\'m not completely sure if he is right. The noise isn\'t heavy and the whine doesn\'t increase when I go round bends. Plus I\'m running more torque than the stock 13b and the car is pulling away fine. Left work with a nice wheel spin a couple on nights ago !

May swap the fluid over and see if it gets better. Fluid is over 12 months old !

Shaun

[David Nock (RIP)]

If the noise isn\'t that bad then, as me previously, I\'d put full synth oil in and leave it.
It could go years with a slight whine.

[shaunwil]

I think that will be the plan. I\'ll bung some sync5 in and see how it goes.

Shaun

[Christopher]

Have a welded diff if your interested.





Pete.

[Archbish]

a lot of the guys in Oz do HiLux diff swaps (yup, the pickup truck)...  I believe it\'s an lsd, and you\'ll need to change other bits, but if you\'re thinking of looking higher hp, then it\'s a good way to go.