Differential Shudder after Changing Fluid
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Differential Shudder after Changing Fluid
I've got a 1995 F150 4x4. The rear end was whining and I noticed that fluid was leaking from the differential cover gasket area. I opened up the differential and changed the fluid, replaced it with synthetic 75w90.
Two laps around the block, it ran great - no noise at all. Ten minutes later I went out to test it again, and I couldn't drive over 5MPH - the rear end has a very bad shudder / vibration.
I tried adding a tube of additive for limited-slip differentials, this hasn't helped. The shudder / vibration is both in reverse and forward, turning and straight travel.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Matt
Two laps around the block, it ran great - no noise at all. Ten minutes later I went out to test it again, and I couldn't drive over 5MPH - the rear end has a very bad shudder / vibration.
I tried adding a tube of additive for limited-slip differentials, this hasn't helped. The shudder / vibration is both in reverse and forward, turning and straight travel.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Matt
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Joined: Mar 2001
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From: So Cal
Some differentials require two tubes of limited slip additive. The experience on a chebby site is that their diffs require 2 tubes with syn. I assume you have a limited slip. On my 250 I use two tubes with Valvoline syn.
You might try that.
You might need to drive it around slowly for a few minutes to mix the additive and get it into the clutch pack. Do some slow figure 8 turns to work the fluid in. I would guess running straight oil may have temporarily washed out what additive was in the clutch pack before the change.
How did the gears etc look when you pulled the cover? And metal chips or debris in the drain pan? How many miles you got?
I wouldn't think changing the fluid would cause a problem unless it was the wrong fluid(unlikely) or you just had bad luck and the diff decided to blow right then(unlikely).
Good Luck,
Jim Henderson
You might try that.
You might need to drive it around slowly for a few minutes to mix the additive and get it into the clutch pack. Do some slow figure 8 turns to work the fluid in. I would guess running straight oil may have temporarily washed out what additive was in the clutch pack before the change.
How did the gears etc look when you pulled the cover? And metal chips or debris in the drain pan? How many miles you got?
I wouldn't think changing the fluid would cause a problem unless it was the wrong fluid(unlikely) or you just had bad luck and the diff decided to blow right then(unlikely).
Good Luck,
Jim Henderson
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There are about 130k miles on the truck. There were not chips, shavings, or chunks in the drain pain. There were a few metal shavings on the back of the filler cap, but that was it. The gears looked good - no chips or cracks that I could see or feel.
I did try driving around a bit to see if the additive needed to be worked into the gears - that didn't seem to help.
Changing the differential fluid seemed like a simple enough job that I couldn't have screwed anything up, so I started looking at other parts of the drivetrain. I noticed that the gasket where the middle of the driveshaft is on a hanger was almost completely disintegrated. That's where the carrier bearing is located, correct?
At any rate, looks like this problem is beyond my ability, so I had the truck towed to a shop this morning.
Thanks for your advice, Jim.
Matt
I did try driving around a bit to see if the additive needed to be worked into the gears - that didn't seem to help.
Changing the differential fluid seemed like a simple enough job that I couldn't have screwed anything up, so I started looking at other parts of the drivetrain. I noticed that the gasket where the middle of the driveshaft is on a hanger was almost completely disintegrated. That's where the carrier bearing is located, correct?
At any rate, looks like this problem is beyond my ability, so I had the truck towed to a shop this morning.
Thanks for your advice, Jim.
Matt
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Joined: Jun 2004
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From: Southern California.. Nea
It sounds like it may be the bearing in the drive shaft support.. that would be good news because it is much cheaper to replace than a ring and pinion. You could have checked by disconnecting the drive shaft at the rear end and turning the wheels by hand while it was up on jack stands.. I am sure the shop will let you know soon enough.. good luck.. Mojave
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It's Fixed!
It was the carrier bearing that went. The shop charged under $150 to fix it, and she's back on the road, so I'm happy!
Kind of funny how it decided to go about one mile after we fixed the rear-end noise problem.
Anyway, thanks for your input guys!
Matt
Kind of funny how it decided to go about one mile after we fixed the rear-end noise problem.
Anyway, thanks for your input guys!
Matt
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