Kungfu0210
New Member
Hi all,
Bit of a weird one this and i'm trying to get my head round what has happened, so any suggestions would be great.......
I got back from a 45min drive, mainly motorway and then 5mins of housing estate. As I pulled onto the drive I could smell diff oil (my mrs thought it was very sad that I knew the oil by smell !)
It was night so the next morning I took a look underneath and noticed that the back of the car had oil residue where it had been vented out of the rear diff breather tube. To the extent that there is even some light spray up the rear door.
Now..... I'd got badly worn front tyres last week to an illegal level on the inside edge (they had lasted 64,000 miles though so not all bad). ATS didn't have Synchrones any more only Latitude so I went for those as they are 30% discount if you buy 4. But they only had two in stock so I had them fitted to the front on Saturday and then they ordered the two for the back to come later this week.
So it ocurred to me yesterday that maybe the diff issue was that they were diiferent sizes, and sure enough despite the fact that both Synchrone and Latitudes are 225 55 r17, the actual measurement from floor to top of tyre is 4cm different between them !
Thus i'm running the back axle with tyres that are 4cm diameter smaller than the front, which i'm guessing has upset my rear diff, caused it to overheat and blow the excess pressure and oil out of the breather.
Please can anyone tell me if that sounds feasible as a root cause ? The rear axle will be going faster than the front so i'd think that I may also have upset my VCU ? Luckily the other two Lats are now in stock and i'm having them fitted today. Tippex test of the VCU next methinx !
Ta, Rick.
Bit of a weird one this and i'm trying to get my head round what has happened, so any suggestions would be great.......
I got back from a 45min drive, mainly motorway and then 5mins of housing estate. As I pulled onto the drive I could smell diff oil (my mrs thought it was very sad that I knew the oil by smell !)
It was night so the next morning I took a look underneath and noticed that the back of the car had oil residue where it had been vented out of the rear diff breather tube. To the extent that there is even some light spray up the rear door.
Now..... I'd got badly worn front tyres last week to an illegal level on the inside edge (they had lasted 64,000 miles though so not all bad). ATS didn't have Synchrones any more only Latitude so I went for those as they are 30% discount if you buy 4. But they only had two in stock so I had them fitted to the front on Saturday and then they ordered the two for the back to come later this week.
So it ocurred to me yesterday that maybe the diff issue was that they were diiferent sizes, and sure enough despite the fact that both Synchrone and Latitudes are 225 55 r17, the actual measurement from floor to top of tyre is 4cm different between them !
Thus i'm running the back axle with tyres that are 4cm diameter smaller than the front, which i'm guessing has upset my rear diff, caused it to overheat and blow the excess pressure and oil out of the breather.
Please can anyone tell me if that sounds feasible as a root cause ? The rear axle will be going faster than the front so i'd think that I may also have upset my VCU ? Luckily the other two Lats are now in stock and i'm having them fitted today. Tippex test of the VCU next methinx !
Ta, Rick.
