Replace the seal and differential oil. Check to see if there are any leaks at the differential. If there are signs of grayish, black, or light brown fluid leaking on the garage floor or driveway or the diff housing, a seal is going or gone and should be replaced, as should the fluid inside the housing. The gears inside the differential are immersed in oil to lubricate and help dissipate heat.
Replacing the rear differential gasket is straightforward once the oil is drained. Removing and replacing the pinion seal or side seals are more complex.
Once the gears are exposed, it is easier to note what actually needs to be repaired and if your diagnosis was accurate. If you wait too long to repair the differential and the inside looks like a grenade has exploded inside with broken metal teeth and pieces resembling shrapnel, it may be less expensive to replace the differential.
The sooner the noise from a differential is fixed, the less damage that may be caused, and the safer your ride will be. Driving with a bad front differential or rear diff at slow speeds for a short distance is possible — home or the mechanics — but travel distance and speed should be limited.
Repairing a differential is a dirty and messy task. There are shims, bearings, and moving gears that fit with the precision of a thousandth of an inch. Everything must fit perfectly, or it will soon need repairing again. Doing it yourself will save on the shop charges. However, if you have to buy specialized tools, that savings may be minimal. It may be cheaper to replace the differential.
Replacing or rebuilding a differential are two other options for fixing differential noise, and both can take several days to accomplish. It is not an easy DIY task and may be better left to a licensed mechanic. However, much depends on the make, model, and year of your vehicle, plus whether it is front or rear-wheel drive. A bonus of having it replaced professionally is that they usually include a warranty. It can quietly carry out its purpose for thousands of miles, but when it starts making noise, maintenance, and repair are necessary.
Hopefully, you have a better understanding of what differential does, how to diagnose different noises, and how to stop differential noise. Your suggestions and comments are appreciated. If you found the article interesting, please pass it on to others who may be interested. I work with noise all day, so I enjoy any peace and quiet I can find. I began looking at ways to improve the sound quality of my home and to make a soundproof office for myself.
I created this blog to share what I learned and to make it easier for you to improve your quiet space too. Hi John I have a ford rear wheel drive territory I have been given a good second hand diff my old one is making a whining noise but the ratio of the old one is 3. This is or was a very informative explanation of what I think is my problem with a F with 99, miles. I did replace the gear oil in my limited slip differential at 58, miles so my situation is disappointing to say the least.
A failing differential will often produce loud whirring noises or sometimes rattling. Any time you hear a strange noise coming from your vehicle, you should get it checked out by an auto repair expert. It can be any number of problems, including the differential.
Weird Noises Another symptom of a bad differential oil is whirring, whining, or howling strange noises, indicating that the metal part, clutches, gears, and differentials have not been lubricated due to a dirty lack of clean oil. Clunking and banging noises on the corners can be due to lack of sufficient posi-traction lubrication, broken spider gears, or worn posi-traction or limited-slip clutches. This allows the left and right wheels to rotate at different speeds on uneven surfaces and when cornering.
An example of this type of axle is limited-slip differentials that transfer torque from one axle to another if one tire is spinning due to ice, mud, or wet pavement. Differentials are made up of different gears that help to rotate engine power to both the left and right wheels. An input pinion turns the pinion shaft that is located at the end of the drive shaft. When the engine turns the shaft it turns the input pinion at the same time which then turns the sun gear. However, odd sounds that stand out are a clear indication that something is amiss and you should probably get it checked out.
However, they may require some maintenance if you are experiencing, clunking, grinding, howling, and whining. If you are hearing a loud humming sound that stands out, it can be due to a worn pinion bearing.
Check out how to diagnose and fix a lifter tick in this article. Squeaking or grinding sounds when driving could be an indication that a universal joint is damaged or worn. If you hear a low pitch rumble when reaching speeds greater than 20mph. Diagnosing differential noise can be problematic since it can be hard to tell the difference between a differential needing attention and a failing wheel bearing. Understanding and Diagnosing Rear Differential Noise. January 22, What does the Rear Differential do?
Usually once your differential goes bad you might experience any of the following: Difficulty in handling As the differential is the element which helps handle your vehicle in a turn, once it starts to wear out, precision is not something that will be on your side anymore.
The wheels will no be able to readjust their speeds making the handling of your vehicle quite unpredictable and can lead to an accident. It would be advisable to get your car to a mechanic as soon as you sense an issue with handling. Tire damage As you take corners the wheels and tires traveling at the same speed will lead to a premature wear of the inner tires or even damage because the speed will be significantly higher than what the inner threads were designed to sustain.
Vibrations Significant wear and tear done to the universal joints of your differential lead to vibration in the drive shaft. This vibration can be felt more accentuated when you accelerate your vehicle and can lead to even stronger vibrations if differential fluid leak appears. These are early warning signs that the differential needs checking as soon as possible.
Whining Noises These are the most common and appear due to lack of lubrication over internal components of the differential.
This lack of lubrication can appear thanks to leaking fluids for example and will inevitably lead to whining noises when that happens. Gear Grinding Hearing an increase in the level of humming noises or gear grinding is a way of knowing almost for sure that you have a worn out differential.
Usually the humming gets louder under acceleration. Rear Differential Noise The rear differential is made up of many gears with teeth entwined with each other. Differential Noise on acceleration Experiencing differential noise on acceleration should alert you. What happens if rear differential goes out while driving Depending on the vehicle and the issue the rear differential has, what happens when the rear differential goes out while driving varies in severity.
Diagnosing Rear Differential Noise There are various situations which can create rear differential noise. What causes a rear differential to go bad?
In this period only short trips should be made with speeds under 50mph. The pedal should be kept under half-throttle at all times and absolutely no towing or hauling. All these efforts are essential in order to keep the differential from reaching a high temperature that causes rapid lubrication break-down Not changing the first gear lube between 3,, miles: This interval is used by most axle manufacturers to mark the end of the break-in period. Oil should be changed and the differential magnet cleaned and inspected carefully to make sure all iron particles have been collected and that the magnet is clean enough to continue collecting these hard iron particles.
Depending on the quality of the lube you have in your differential from the start, you might have to lean towards one or another end of this interval. High performance synthetic hear oils can be changed at around 4,, miles while lesser oils need to be changed faster.
Just ask for the ASTM test performance data of your oils producer. Allowing wheel spin: This is a big one as excessive wheel speed can heat up the differential in short time. Coupling wheel spin up with intermittent good-poor traction creates a deadly cocktail.
This spike in load can cause damage or fracture internal parts of the differential or drivetrain components like universal joints. Not checking the breather fitting and breather tube regularly: Checking for leaks, splits or cracks should be done regularly as these can allow either gradual water intrusion from weather or sudden water intrusion from flooded roads or boat ramps.
What happens when the hot differential meets cool water is that a vacuum phenomenon appears that rapidly sucks air or water inside. Gear oils can handle air but just a few on the market can handle water contamination and still provide adequate lubrication. Essentially gear oils break down when water is added into the mixture. Not upgrading the differential cover: The differential cover should also be upgraded when torque or horsepower is upgraded as well as when towing a heavy trailer is on the list or towing in steep conditions or when you know towing will become regular.
Reason behind it is that aftermarket differential covers add more cooling and rigidity that keeps the differential away from flexing under high torque loads and some even allow you to put a sensor inside in order to track temperature from your dashboard.
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