My diff let go completely, so I tore it apart to see what actually happened. It had been clicking for a while, then started making a lot more noise the other day, then got to the point it wasn't even driveable anymore. Worst part is, I haven't even had the car for 3 weeks yet and this happened The previous owner said this differential is only a few months old, so my best guess is that they didn't set the backspacing correctly, which cracked one of the pinion teeth. As soon as that tooth let go, everything just tore itself to pieces.

 

uhmm holy !!! wtf thats wrong the previous owner abused dat s2000

 

No he said it was a new diff so owner would have nothing to do with it. He was thinking the backlash was set incorrectly. Hard to say what caused it to sheer off one of the pinion teeth. But having the backlash too tight could certainly do it.

 

If the diff was a month old, there sure is a lot of dirty fluid inside the back housing.

 

I'm trying to track down the history of the diff to figure out where it came from, and if it had any problems before it went in the car. I bought the car about 3 weeks ago from 95civicturbo. Does anybody know anything about it?

 

The diff itself was installed a short time before his purchase. It was not BRAND NEW, but a used OEM unit if I remember correctly. I got it from JCARLTON who purchased my built diff and provided me with this one as a partial trade.

Since installation, this setup wasn't exposed to a SINGLE clutch-dump, power-shift or hard launch. I know the failure had nothing to do with me, but I can't help but feel responsible.

Trashing a rear end is no fun. I hope that you get everything repaired with minimal downtime and cost.

 

what makes your diff go bad? drive hard? i have clicking noise when i reverse but i think its my suspension since im lowerd on springs.. or is there a problem with my diff?
thanks guys

 

you'd get clicking in drive as well as reverse if it was your diff. at least that's what I suspect.

 

The pics look liked an add for the mens dept. at sears

 

The clicking from mine was only when there was no load on the drivetrain (gearbox in neutral or clutch depressed). If I was accelerating or engine braking, the clicking would go away. Traveling in forward or reverse made no difference.

On the plus side, I have a working car again. I drove 4 hours up to Chicago, uninstalled the diff from Brad's parts car, drove 4 hours back home, installed it in mine, and went for a successful test drive. Made for a long day, but at least my car drives again

I'm going to take the pinion out of the housing and bring it to school some time this week to see if I can figure out which tooth broke first and a possible cause (single direction loading, fatigue, etc.) I'll post back here if I am able to determine anything, but with all the metal shavings being sandwiched between the gears, there is a good chance it ruined the fracture surface, and I won't be able to tell anything. It's still worth a shot though, and will put what I learned in those materials engineering and metallurgy classes to good use