F-Body Europe

Someone please explain how the #@$# this happened!

WTF?! What was the fluid like when it was taken out? Smell like rotten eggs by any chance? Please say that it didn't. Because if it did that's tampering, basically ya know who.

Even before I mentioned that and looked at the picture it was the 1st thing that came to mind. Somebody did something. Have any pieces come out? Wish you had more pics.

W/ those lines I'd expect the pinion gear to be crunched but its not.

Tampering? What do you mean? Diff fluid always stinks, but I don't know if there's a distinct smell I should be noticing.

Nah you wouldn't notice the rotten egg smell. Literally rotten eggs. That's what the opel boys put in ryans rear after they trashed it and then refilled it and try to play it off.

Something just doesn't look right. Will it spin at all? I mean according to that pick you've got some nicks but that's it. Should still be functional in theory anyways. I'm not a guru on gears so pardon me.

You removed the caps right? Because I don't see them. And if that's the case the rear walked all over the place meaning.........someone took the rear diff out and took them out!

Don't know if it's just the angle of the pic, but the left part looks like it's slightly do far down and dug into the housing ... !? No wonder it locked up if that's what it is ...

That's just the angle of the pic Garry.

Somebody beating the carrier back in place with a cold chiesal would cause that?!

Seriously, does it run now? When I bought my 93 5.0 some jackass left a bolt in it and the ring gear basically ate it. Looked ugly and made me fear, but no harm no foul.

That doesnt look right of course. and i always thought gear fluid smelled like cat pee

Like I said if that's the case wtf were they doing back there in the 1st place. Nothing was wrong w/ it to begin w/. Another way to get $$ like the way dealers take advantage of women. I can't say for 100% certainty but that rear looks suspect.

Rob, they had no business f\/cking with the rear end. I gave the car to them so they could fix the damn engine, NOTHING MORE! That was $3000. Since I got it back, I haven't even driven it a week, I've spent $1900 on a transmission rebuild and now the f\/cking rearend is screwed up. How in the hell can I prove that they did something? If I could, I definitely would! It's like they break something every time I go there, to ensure that I come back. I just don't see how the pinion gear could have left those marks.

Also, I seriously doubt that came from any type of banging. It is too neatly patterned, like the gear, but that angle is really strange.

Jack where are the caps? Did you take them off? If not but the diff back on refill and take it to them. Have em' tear it down in your presence then start tearing "He said POOP" up! Have you paid them in full for all their services? Did they write anything down like a receipt? If not there's no proof of any business and I wouldn't pay them a dime more. Don't care what the cost is. The more I think about it I KNOW they did something.

When I get back I'm gonna proceed w/ having them blacklisted.

you asked what could leave those marks?

nothing in the housing comes into contact except the ring and pinion. (however I dont like the scoreing on the bearings, preload off?)

If you dropped it off for engine, there is nothing/nadda/zero they would have to do back there. I dont think your rearend is screwed from the pictures, but still if they did it, they were wrong.

They have to give you a write up of what they did right? However if they say they didnt do it, its a he says she says deal and those never work out well.

sorry buddy, i just went off the info you gave, not trying to make light of it. Alot of shops are crooks and miserable techs to boot.

That's what pisses me off, Rob. I could take it back there, and they could say 'we never messed with the rear, we worked on the engine'.

John, I took those caps off, and they were all the way down. I know that could have caused it, but they were fine.

I have a receipt, and yes I paid them in full, otherwise the Z would be sitting there like the other 30 cars which people haven't paid for.

Jack,

I left work today before you got back. Dave (the guy who bought my 70 Camaro) and I were looking at it the diff again after you left to get the digital to take the pics.
I don't think anyone messed with the rear. But a significant amount of stress was put against the pinion. Your pinion bearing is absolutely wore the f- out. I moved the gear more than 1/16 of an inch back and forth by hand. Could your car be lowered enough to require the diff to be rotated to match the needed pinion angle? I lost a d/s because of that on a 4x4 I had years ago.
If you want to take another look at it, I'll be in the shop tomorrow. We're closed, but give me a buzz @ 0171-496-0239 or call the shop if you want to roll it in. I shouldbe there after 0930. We could preload the rear whileits on the lift to see what the angle looks like.

Barry

Ok, sure- if you want to show me how to dot that! It's been lowered for over 3 years now, though, so would it have really lasted this long?

Jack
I see that you sport a Zexel LSD. The marks on the LSD are from the drive pinion. I am guessing like but I think your Crush sleeve along with the pinion bearings went south.

Barry, His diff roatation is limited by the TA. Although JAck's car is low
There are lowers ones over here with no problems. The rotation in the extreme lowering would be min at best.

The killer of this looks like Brute power which damaged the crush sleeve which gave you pinion play . With this play you get the Jack hammer effect going with accelerating and decelerating. Btw Jack How many High speed WOT runs for X amount minutes have you done on this rearend.

JUst one question Left
At any time Did you have the pinion Seal reolaced for leaking?

No Roy, I never had anything in the rear (to my knowledge) replaced, and I can't even count the number of WOT runs at XX # of minutes I've made over the last 4 years.

Well Jack the reason I asked Is that I went through the same boat that you are going thru now. Rearend problems and trans problems. But I caught mine early enough on to get them documented with OPEL-GM, to fix them. Sustained wide open throttle runs are deadly on the trannies and rear ends. Since there are no coolers for either, the heat just builds and builds . Temps can easily reach over 350 degrees in these units driven under these conditions. High temps also cause cause expansion. Well every thing starts to go down hill from there.

Rob
Those are the bearing races , Ibelieve you are describing . The bearing is inside the race itself.

I'm glad you noticed them early on. I don't think I ever noticed anything, well there was that slight whining noise. I probably should have had that looked at. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20.

BTW, how much extra was the Detroit locker option?