Differential leaking and smoking
Differential leaking and smoking
It's raining pretty hard in Sacramento today. I took the G out for a spin, drove down the freeway about ten minutes, exited onto a local street and came to a stop sign under the freeway. No cars were around and seeing it was an underpass with no one around i suddenly had a juvenile urge to turn the VDC off and gun it off the line. I figured a lil dukes of hazard style fish tailing once in a while was no biggie.
Well.. immediately after that the smell of burning oil entered my cabin. I pulled into the next parking lot and saw a large cloud of smoke coming from the rear of my car. Great... A quick peak under the rear and I saw half the rear diff was covered in fluid.
I'm 15 miles from home at a coffee shop and seeing as its Sunday, all the shops, including my regular mechanic are closed. I plan on taking it to the shop first thing Monday morning.
What's the feasibility of driving home? Do you think my diff is pretty much fried and will need replacing anyways? If so I may just drive home. Seeing as the purpose of the diff is to allow the outside wheel to turn more than the inside wheel while turning, does the diff need lubricating when driving straight, like on the freeway?
Well.. immediately after that the smell of burning oil entered my cabin. I pulled into the next parking lot and saw a large cloud of smoke coming from the rear of my car. Great... A quick peak under the rear and I saw half the rear diff was covered in fluid.
I'm 15 miles from home at a coffee shop and seeing as its Sunday, all the shops, including my regular mechanic are closed. I plan on taking it to the shop first thing Monday morning.
What's the feasibility of driving home? Do you think my diff is pretty much fried and will need replacing anyways? If so I may just drive home. Seeing as the purpose of the diff is to allow the outside wheel to turn more than the inside wheel while turning, does the diff need lubricating when driving straight, like on the freeway?
Walking The Fine Line...
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 19,883
Likes: 128
From: The Lounge
It's raining pretty hard in Sacramento today. I took the G out for a spin, drove down the freeway about ten minutes, exited onto a local street and came to a stop sign under the freeway. No cars were around and seeing it was an underpass with no one around i suddenly had a juvenile urge to turn the VDC off and gun it off the line. I figured a lil dukes of hazard style fish tailing once in a while was no biggie.
Well.. immediately after that the smell of burning oil entered my cabin. I pulled into the next parking lot and saw a large cloud of smoke coming from the rear of my car. Great... A quick peak under the rear and I saw half the rear diff was covered in fluid.
I'm 15 miles from home at a coffee shop and seeing as its Sunday, all the shops, including my regular mechanic are closed. I plan on taking it to the shop first thing Monday morning.
What's the feasibility of driving home? Do you think my diff is pretty much fried and will need replacing anyways? If so I may just drive home. Seeing as the purpose of the diff is to allow the outside wheel to turn more than the inside wheel while turning, does the diff need lubricating when driving straight, like on the freeway?
Well.. immediately after that the smell of burning oil entered my cabin. I pulled into the next parking lot and saw a large cloud of smoke coming from the rear of my car. Great... A quick peak under the rear and I saw half the rear diff was covered in fluid.
I'm 15 miles from home at a coffee shop and seeing as its Sunday, all the shops, including my regular mechanic are closed. I plan on taking it to the shop first thing Monday morning.
What's the feasibility of driving home? Do you think my diff is pretty much fried and will need replacing anyways? If so I may just drive home. Seeing as the purpose of the diff is to allow the outside wheel to turn more than the inside wheel while turning, does the diff need lubricating when driving straight, like on the freeway?
Is it leaking statically? Can you look under the car and see a physical leak? You can ale ays consider a top-off/drain and fill then monitor to see hwhqt you're dealing with.
How hard did you nail it? Was the smoke the result of the diff fluid hitting the exhaust? You sure it was smoke and not steam from water hitting the exhaust?
I was thinking it may have been water mixing with the diff fluid making steam or maybe you're right about the exhaust. The leak seems to be coming from the top of the diff. I nailed it to about 5-6k in first gear.
Got it home, jacked it up. Figured out I ripped the rear differential bushing. The hydraulic fluid sprayed all over the diff and the exhaust pipe, which is what caused the burning smell/smoke. I read that you can't buy stock bushings, but you will have to buy a whole rear subframe for over 1k?!
In the alternative, SPL makes solid aluminum bushings, but I don't want to increase gear noise in my daily driver or cause damage to the diff from the increased vibration.
Have you heard of anyone making bushings from poly or solid rubber?
In the alternative, SPL makes solid aluminum bushings, but I don't want to increase gear noise in my daily driver or cause damage to the diff from the increased vibration.
Have you heard of anyone making bushings from poly or solid rubber?
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
RemmyZero
V36 DIY
10
Apr 23, 2018 11:13 AM
