Grimshaw

Member

• Sep 20, 2019

• #1

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

Member

• Sep 20, 2019

• #2

It's a S3 88

 

ExMil109

Active Member

• Sep 20, 2019

• #3

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

Member

• Sep 20, 2019

• #4

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

Active Member

• Sep 20, 2019

• #5

its almost certainly a broken halfshaft

 

Extreedoc

Well-Known Member

• Sep 20, 2019

• #6

Another vote for a sheared halfshaft here.

 

Land Raver

Well-Known Member

• Sep 20, 2019

• #7

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.

 

W

Wildefalcon

Well-Known Member

• Sep 21, 2019

• #8

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.

 

S

suburban

Well-Known Member

• Sep 21, 2019

• #9

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