LSD and wrong oil

Post Sun Nov 10, 2013 11:51 am

Howdy all,
just bought a sport, the diff aint locking up. I noticed on the service history that the wrong oil has been put into the diff. Will this cause permanent damage or can I just change it for the correct oil ?

cheers, andy

Post Sun Nov 10, 2013 12:01 pm

Can't answer the question on the oil, the key thing is to get the backplate off it and see if it is actually a slipper before you conclude it's a broken LSD.

Post Sun Nov 10, 2013 12:04 pm

yes your right, I was hoping someone might know though but I think that's going to be what ill have to do.

Post Sun Nov 10, 2013 12:05 pm

Have you checked with the car jacked up that it is definitely an LSD.

If the wrong oil has been put in it may have worn it prematurely I suppose.

Post Sun Nov 10, 2013 12:06 pm

If the oil wasn't designed for use in an LSD then there's a good chance it will have killed the clutch plates.

You could try changing the oil and see what happens, but you're likely to need a new diff or a rebuild.

Post Sun Nov 10, 2013 12:10 pm

ok cheers guys, the wrong oil ( mobil gear oil

) was put in about 10 years ago ! Does stevo ( from wales I think) still repair diffs ?

Post Sun Nov 10, 2013 12:17 pm

Gareth on here will rebuild a diff for you.

Post Sun Nov 10, 2013 1:04 pm

just found a printout of the etk with the part numbers for reconditioned diff so im guessing its been a known problem. I knew as soon as I saw that gear oil on the service history (for 1997 ) that it would be goosed.
Gareth ? sorry not been on the zone for years.

Post Sun Nov 10, 2013 3:05 pm

Bare in mind that the working life of a LSD is a very few hours at best. Almost without exception, every LSD fitted to an E30, that hasn't been rebuilt, is little more than an expensive ornament that does little more than a normal open diff. Two of my fleet have LSDs, and both of them do very little in the way of locking.
I didn't even know that one had a LSD until someone posted a link on here to a site allowing you to find the original spec. of your car. I picked up a random V5C that was lying around and typed in the VIN, just to see if the site worked, and it came back saying a LSD had been specified.
I went straight out to the shed, dived under the car in question, polished up the diff. tag, and up came a number starting with the magic 'S'.

Post Fri Nov 29, 2013 12:17 am

As Brian said, most are toasted by now, but not at all impossible to save with some refacing work and new clutch plates.

Pop me a PM if you want me to look into it

Post Sat Nov 30, 2013 12:57 pm

Thanks Gareth. Got myself a 4.1 torsen for now. I'll see how it goes. I will certainly drop you a pm if I decide to get the original diff reconditioned.
Cheers, andy

Post Sat Nov 30, 2013 1:08 pm

Brianmoooore wrote:Bare in mind that the working life of a LSD is a very few hours at best. Almost without exception, every LSD fitted to an E30, that hasn't been rebuilt, is little more than an expensive ornament that does little more than a normal open diff. Two of my fleet have LSDs, and both of them do very little in the way of locking.
I didn't even know that one had a LSD until someone posted a link on here to a site allowing you to find the original spec. of your car. I picked up a random V5C that was lying around and typed in the VIN, just to see if the site worked, and it came back saying a LSD had been specified.
I went straight out to the shed, dived under the car in question, polished up the diff. tag, and up came a number starting with the magic 'S'.

Hey, do you have that link? It sounds interesting.