Rear Diff?/intro
 

Hello,

First, I have owned my '92 Pearl Ls-l for two years now. I love the car and bought mine after riding in my brothers. Once I drove the one I bought, I was sold. Problems that have been fixed include; rear rotors turned to fix annoying breaking, slotted and dimpled front rotors, new wiring for battery(after a long complicated search to fix the electrical problem, after replacing the alternator, a fuse, unhooking visor wires, and then almost giving up, then finding that the negative ground had rusted free from the car body!), rear wheel bearings once at dealer who did not re-tighten some bolts and 25 miles later came of and tore up whole drivers side rear hub, rotor, etc-all replaced for free after much arguing), recently replaced passenger side rear bearing(dealer did not regrease parts I bought-no warranty) with my brother doing most of the work, all is well, except for..the following

So now I have this problem; The car had not been driven much due to power problems and the loud bearing failing. So when my brother and I had time to work on it over Christmas break I got it running(replacing battery connections and new battery, again) and noticed in turns there were some creaking sounds coming from the rear. Anyway, replaced the bearing(quiet again!) and have been driving it since. Now three weeks later the rear noise is unbearable when I turn at slow(below 10mph) and vibrates also. It has not made the noise in reverse or at higher speeds. Two days ago I put in the FWD fuse and it stopped. So what I would like to know is what exactly does that mean? I have read every thread on rear diff's and solenoid C, and more, but no definitive answer is given. I know the passenger side front tire has a bit of wear on the inside and needs balanced. I will also rotate the tires when I get them balanced and aligned.

Is the rear diff going/gone, Solenoid C, transfer clutch, or something else bad? Checked fluids also, all good except for the rear diff when I can get it lifted.

Thanks in advance,

Aaron

In Paducah KY a year or so ago I was at a gas staion a little after midnight and the clerk(about 18-19) came out and asked where I got the custom windows for my Eclipse! Does it really resemble an Eclipse? Maybe at a glance but after you look at really good, come on.

Welcome to the site!

Are there any forum members nearby that could take a look at this issue for you? What kind of noise is it?

If it grinding and whining at the turns and getting worse, there is a chance a bearing gave again. there was a thread if you search about how picky the bearings are on this car. Make sure also that its not your tires are quiet too. I was looking for a ghost noise the other day when i discovered my tires are bald. Bald tires can make it sound like a bearing. except a bearing acts on turns and whines with a high pitch

Hello,

With the FWD fuse in the rear grinding/ vibrating/ creaking has stopped. The bearing would make noise while driving straight also. Bearings are silent now. The sound is like metal on metal. Very grinding like with vibration, and painful sounding, with a rare creak or high pitch noise. It tended to only do it after the car warmed up completely, and only while going forward. It only happens at low speeds when parking or turning from a stop. All the reading on this site, leads me to rear differentials, transfer plate/clutch, or the solenoid C. With all the reading though there is no one for sure cure for the problem.

Tires are almost brand new Continental Extreme Contact.

My brother(owns 92(?) black LS) lives in the KC area(2 hrs from here) and thats where we did the bearing. Is it safe/good to drive it that far with the FWD fuse in or with this problem happening? Again, at speeds above ten there is no noise associated with turning.

Welcome to the site. The problem doesn't sound good. :(

Welcome to the site.

Even after two years!:p :D

I'm not an expert on your tranny, the US one is a bit different than ours. The one thing sticks out, the noise goes away when driving with the FWD fuse in. To me, that would seem to indicate that you have a problem with the transfer clutch, which becomes disengaged when this fuse is used.

You mention grinding and metallic noises. This may indicate you have worn away all the friction material off this clutch. Now it could be the case that the C solenoid was stuck in the on [or off, not sure which] position, and this caused your plates to bind all the time, eventually wearing them down to the noisy bits.

Have you been noticing the rear wheels binding as you turn on gravel or soft surfaces for a while?

That's my guess.

And I think it's less expensive to fix than the whole tranny. The back part comes off to fix that clutch.

Hope it works out easy for you.

[BTW, Randy had rear drive problems and drove for many months with that fuse in. So 25 miles would be a pittance really. I don't think it creates a problem to drive with it in. However, if your problem was with the rear diff, continuing to drive would make it worse all right. It just sounds to me like your transfer clutch is almost bound up solid.]

Joe:)

Hello,

I have done lots of reading in the forums past two years but only got around to joining recently.

I have not really driven on gravel or soft roads. Always blacktop or pavement. It only started after the car had sat for a while, about 3 months since its last drive(it was started every week or so and left to run a while but rarely driven during that time.)

I guess I will end up taking it to the shop and have the problem diagnosed for sure before working on anything. Will try to pull the engine codes after school today. I know the O2 sensors are bad but maybe there is something else also.

Is Black Batty(bam a lam) a Nick Cave reference?

Welcome to the site.
Since the noise goes away when you install the fwd fuse, it is your transfer clutches causing the binding.
The first thing you want to do, depending on the noise, is go to a hard surface parking lot and make slow figure eights with the fuse NOT installed.
Since your car sat for a few months, the clutch plates could be sticking, making your car FOUR wheel drine, not ALL wheel drive.
By driving in small, slow circles or figure eights, you might get lucky and break the sticking plates free.
However, if the noise is broken parts, you are only tearing stuff up more.
If you can check your Throttle Position Switch, and find out what the voltage is there, you might have only a small, easily remidied problem. Tom

Like Tom said above, check out it is not a temporary freeze-up using the figures of eight driving trick.

Nick Cave? Sort of. I'm a bit older than that:rolleyes: I actually named her after the original by Ram Jam, but Nick Cave did a version too.:D

Hello,

I checked the engine code/s and the only one came up 34, EGR solenoid valve. Nothing at all to do with what is happening. Does this matter if I postpone(procrastinate) on fixing this?

Still have yet to try the figure 8's. Will try tonight after dinner or tomorrow after classes get out.

I never knew who Ram Jam was but I have heard their Black Betty version and many others. At least I did not ask if it was refering to Leadbelly's original!

That was kind of you! And I did not mention it, because I did not know how far back ya knew da blues:eek:

I like the Ram Jam version because of the "off" delayed timing they play on the guitar work. Noticable if you try to emulate it.

Regards the codes you are getting, if it is something mechanical like a stuck clutch, there will be no sensor relaying a signal to the TCU or ECU in relation to this, so in effect there will be no code to say "clutch jammed"

Joe:)

take svxfile's advice and try the figure 8's. If that doesn't help, check the TPS voltage. Are you experiencing any transmission codes?

Tom

The sort of noise that you describe is not the type of noise that a binding Transfer clutch usually makes. It usually makes a bumping, scuffing type effect. The grinding, metal on metal, painfully noise, sounds like the Transfer clutch has broken off the Transfer gear.

Like Joe, I don't have this type of trans, so I would rely on what other US owners say theirs sounded like, when they had binding problems. But the only one that had grinding sounds like you say had the clutch break off.

Fitting the fuse will prevent the grinding, but you need to remove the rear of the box to see what has gone on.

Harvey.;)

I know exactly what Harvey is suggesting and it happened to my Silver's auto. The basket just sheered right off of the output shaft and made a horrible noise. I would suggest trying the other solutions first before you expect the worst. Even so, it is not too hard to find these parts as it is not too usual that this happens

Tom