NOw my04 diff has been having sOme clunky noises for some time now. Mostly in neutral at low speed turns. Today i drained the diff to change the fluids out and had a bunch of metal which really concerns me. My question is should i buy a whole diff unit, or buy gears and bearings/seals? I am capable of repairing it with new gears /etc. Which one would be the cheapest option/ best option? I do plan on S/C next year. Keeping that in mind. Any help would be greatly appriciated.

 

You need to elaborate on "bunch of metal". What size were the pieces of metal? Like grains of sand? Or a finer paste? Or bigger chunks?

 

Small sand/paste= Okay.

Metal pieces (bigger than lets say crumbled frosted flakes), you're probably gonna need a new diff. If you don't launch your car a lot, you shouldn't be too worried.

 

Here is what my diff drain bolt looked like when mine went bad....if yours looks anything like this your diff is bad...

 

 

wow that is wild. its heart breaking just thinking about the atrocity that went on in that diff when that happened.

 

What gear oil are you using? Any pictures of metal that was drained or drain plug?

 

New diff is definitely in order.

 

I work on aircraft for a living and seeing those chunks on a mag plug is a big show-stopper itself. Take what the guys here say and start looking for a replacement diff. Just my 2 cents. At least it's not in the tranny. Good luck with it.

 

Small metal shavings are normal to find during diff fluid changes, big chunks like those pictured are bad.