Mk2 Differential Crunch! :(

[thespannerman]

Hi everyone,

It's a little self explanatory from the title really, my mk2 has developed a crunch from the differential in the last 50 miles I suspect it's the commonly-reported TSF cone clutch disintegration that is common from the Tochigi diff unit, however I was wondering if there was anything else that I'd not factored in that might cause the same noise?

Thanks in advance,

Dom

[seany87]

Is yours a mk2 or mk2.5? WHat year?

The Tochigi Fuji came in about late 2002 onwards if I remember rightly. My 2004 fuji diff car had a light grind rather than a crunch, even so a couple of chewed up tabs and some silver paste came out of the diff hole. Swapped it for a 1994 Torsen type 1 which was just awesome.

[MegaMinion]

Easiest way to check is to drain the diff oil. If it is the clutch tabs then they'll be on the magnetic drain plug or they'll come out with the oil

[thespannerman]

Sorry, forgot to say! It's a 2004 Euphonic, so I know it'll be the Tochigi diff

Will it continue to function as an open diff if I remove the broken bits from inside it?

Ta

[MegaMinion]

In theory it should work as an open diff but I found mine would still lock up sometimes as there was obviously enough friction between the clutch plate and it's housing which made it a bit exciting a couple of times. Also if the tabs got chewed up by the gears in the diff they may have caused some damage the will cause stress concentrations on the teeth meaning in a few thousand miles the thing may brake in a more spectacular fashion.
I changed mine for a second hand torsen it was £300 and a couple of hours lying on my back to change it. Personally I would change it if I were you.