Rikk

hello,my 1993 sc 400 has 214k on it and has a worn out diff.Wanted to know if a used replacement carrier assemblely can just be bolted on.Or will i have to adjust shims or backlash. newbie with this problem need direction on my options.the car is making a slight clunk from the rear end on acceleration and also when i take my foot off the gas.had my mechanic test drive it and he said the diff was worn. at first i thought it may be the tranny mount because of a slight shudder on accceleration,but the mount was checked a found to be okay. dont wanna change gear ratios or anything just want a direct replacement.Is that even possible thanks for any responses.

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

its a common diff and its a straight swap in and out if you find a similar year sc400 diff.
I would mention that they rarely break if they have the proper maintenance which just means it has to have gear oil in it.
it could happen I gues from really old oil etc.. but I doubt it so much that it would not be the first thing I would jump to from just driving it, but maybe check that the rubber donut on the driveshaft is still holding together, it can make similar noises and is also known to go bad like the mounts. also there are bushings on the diff itself that can get worn out.

Rikk

thanks for the reply, can those items you mentioned be visually inspected for wear.my mechanic said all my bushings looked good visually, but now that you mentioned it i have my doubts.Is there anyway to definitively check them before i start throwing money into this project.again thankyou

scblackout

iTrader: (2)

Not surprising that he would jump to the most expensive possible solution. As Ali said, short of running a diff with no oil it is extremely rare, EXTREMELY RARE, that the diff would actually have gone bad with a turbo in front of it. I also would consider the donut first, re-torque all the bolts and even consider replacing the carrier bushings long before I would replace the diff. These cars are infamous for having the carrier bushings wearing out and causing the clunking. In fact there are even a few youtube vids showing this exact problem.

LEXOWINO

Is the carrier bearing the donut on the driveshaft you referred to ??

What noise would the differential bushings generate or symptoms related to its failure.

Also that transmission mount can that cause similar symptoms to differential failure?