Differential screwed.
 

I dropped off the car at Rick Case today, with Eddie (great guy btw).

It has an awful metal grind I always figured to be the wheel bearing.

I really figured it was going to be simple, even if I had to pay for it out of pocket, worse case, close to 1,000 to fix the wheel bearing on driver rear, and passenger studs..

Well..

Passenger rear studs hit me for $277, not covered under warranty (didn't expect it to be.)

Under further inspection Neil found that my rear differential is done.

Again.

The car was purchased from Pompano Honda as a used certified S2000 with extended car care warranty. 2 weeks after ownership the differential began to whine, come to find out they used the wrong diff fluid when they serviced the car before 'certifying' it..

Everything was replaced at no cost.


This was at 33k miles.

The car just hit 50k and now apparently according to Neil the differential fluid looked like mashed potatoes.. and I guess that clacking/grinding noise was coming from the differential the whole time.

Do or die is tomorrow, Honda is sending a service inspector to 'inspect' the differential fluid (whatever that means) - I've never tracked this car, I've launched it probably a min of 3x in it's ownership, at low RPM's, never autocrossed - However I do drive 'spirited' on the highway but I know definetely that wouldn't harm the differential.

Is there any tips or something I can do if they decide to be hardasses? This being replaced once already only hurts my cause =/.

How can I get them to at least go 50/50 if all else fails?

Any help or input is appreciated.. =/

Differential fluid looked like mashed potatoes??

Sounds to me like they could have possibly put the CRV diff fluid in your replacement diff and jacked it up too. Do you know what was in there or was it whatever they put in? If the dealership was the last one to touch the diff I can't see how you would be at fault.

,.

... and probably jacked it up tooo

what do u mean?
ur not suppose to jack up the car through the diff?

you can use the differential to jack up the car BUT it's safer to use a piece of wood or something similar between the two.

Razor is absolutely correct here. I've personally never used it because the majority of the work I've performed has been near the front of the car; however, the differential is a main jacking point. In the Helm's manual it suggests using a rag or cloth between the jack and the diff housing although I'm sure a piece of wood could work as well.

haha sorry, a piece of wood might be overkill but you get the idea ;). just something to evenly distribute the pressure exerted by the floor jack.

From your description of the situation, I see no reason why the differential shouldn't be warranteed 100%! It was replaced by a Honda dealership at 33k miles. Now, 17k miles later the differential fails, and you have an extended care warrantee. If you did not abuse the differential, and from your posting you did not, it should be completely covered.

Is there any reason why they should not do so? Why even consider going 50/50 on this?

And yes,the differential is used for lifting the rear of the car. I use a rag on my jack saddle and would be very careful if you choose to use a piece of wood. If the wood is too thick and/or doesn't fit the saddle properly, you risk having the differential slip off the wood, or the wood off the saddle ... with dire consequences.