Series 3 Broken diff?

Grimshaw · Sep 20, 2019

Hi, all,
Driving home just now I felt a 'pop' and lost drive. The rear-prop shaft is turning but no drive to the rear wheels. I managed to get home in 4x4 using front-wheel drive.

Are there any other possibilities I should explore/rule out before jumping and buying a new rear diff?
Thanks.

Grimshaw · Sep 20, 2019

It's a S3 88

ExMil109 · Sep 20, 2019

You might have broken a half-shaft. You'll need to pull the half-shafts out in any case to change the diff, so it might be worth taking them out first and checking if either is broken.

Grimshaw · Sep 20, 2019

Would 1 broken H/S result in no drive to rear wheels? There is no resistance in the prop - in neutral it just spins on the hand.

jockmurray · Sep 20, 2019

its almost certainly a broken halfshaft

Extreedoc · Sep 20, 2019

Another vote for a sheared halfshaft here.

Land Raver · Sep 20, 2019

Seemingly a common failure and it's like a 'fuse' in the drive train. Might be lucky and the break will be at the when end but more commonly they break at the diff end so diff needs to come out to remove the broken bit.

Wildefalcon · Sep 21, 2019

Agree, half shaft is most likely, almost a service item. Change every two decades, or buy some made from 300M, fit and forget.
Pull them from both sides. Remove the diff, use a drift to drive out the bit that stuck in the diff. New half shaft, drive on.

suburban · Sep 21, 2019

had similar, mine turned out to be sheared bolts on the diff crown wheel, first I pulled the half shafts they were both intact, you can replace the bolts assuming you can get the sheared bits out, I stuck a used diff off ebay on. Actually got a complete rear axle as that was the closest thing to me at the time

Series 3 Broken diff?

Grimshaw

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Grimshaw

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ExMil109

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Grimshaw

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jockmurray

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Extreedoc

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Land Raver

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Wildefalcon

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suburban

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