Ahhh...

About two weeks ago, my car's rear end made a metallic sound as if a washer was loose. The car stayed at a body shop for about a week, so it wasn't driven. When I picked it up, the differential made a steady humming sound which was pronounced under acceleration/deceleration loads. I called Monday to make a service appointment for this Friday. I suppose the car wanted to visit its home dealer sooner! Read on...

Tonight while coming home from my girlfriend's place a terrible grinding came from the rear end when I was accelerating onto the on ramp.

I'm pretty sure it's the diff -- the car won't roll backwards and it grinds even if you try to push it forward by hand.

My car had the clicking axle symptom. It's a 2001 model with 25,000 miles on it. No forced induction or nitrous. Never side stepped the clutch.

I'll see what the verdict is from the dealer this week. I've read a lot about differential failures on the board. I just wanted to share my experience.

At least it didn't happen at speed through a corner or while it was wet. I'm pretty sure it would have caused problems with controlling the vehicle.

But hey, at least I have my trusty 1980 Dodge 4x4 pickup to drive in the meantime. It's a wonderful shade of black w/o AC. It runs and has those handy triangle windows to direct air inside the cab!

 

It could be the driver side CV joint.

 

I don't think you will have a problem getting it fixed for free. I have blown my diff twice now. The car is in the shop getting its third one installed right now along with a whole new transmission. It seems that some of the S2s are having a real problem with this. If you don't mind my asking, what number is your '01. Im wondering if it is a certin production numbers that are having these problems.

 

I'm waiting for the report from the dealer. I'm curious to find out.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Elements
[B]If you don't mind my asking, what number is your '01.

 

if it wont move w/o grinding i think its the ring&pinion, or splines ground off in the OB CV.

 

Got the word back from my dealer: DIFFERENTIAL

The service manager was surprised that it had failed so soon and has never heard of this happening.

He said that it will be ordered as an assembly, but is currently on backorder. It's on emergency order and we'll know the ship date Thursday or Friday.

Is that typical of the differential being ordered as an assembly? I thought that it COULD be serviced. But then again, I may not want a garage that has never done a rebuild on this rear end to touch it...

 

it's typical to replace the whole assy.

For a noncommon occurance, it sure is strange for it to be on backorder don't y'all think?

 

i just got mine towed to the dealer because of a very loud clanking noise. it seemed that there was an iron rod got stuck in between the rear wheels. it was the worst sound i ever encountered in my whole life. i think it was the rear diff, but the rep said something about connecting to the rear diff. i have to call him back again tomorrow and ask what is exactly the problem is.

i dont understand, i never drop clutch my car and i get this kind of problem. i mean, i only have under 27k on the tach. and its model year 2000.

they said that they will call me after they talk about if it is under warranty.

 

Gee I was told my tranny was on backorder from Japan (3weeks) . . . and when things got nasty I got it in less than a week, go figure.

I have close to 50,000 miles on my diff and it seems to be just fine, I do worry about it though.



Elements,

Im curious about your tranny, what happened?