Diff Groaning After Replacing Everything

[Sharocks]

Swap gears while your doing diff work.

Also, the bottom of your car is insanely clean. Someone watches Redish videos.

[enjoy_m3]

It doesn't sound like you replaced the actual differential or changed gears. I don't there there's a need for figure 8s. You typically only do that when breaking in clutches in differential. Might want to keep investigating to confirm if it is actually the diff. It's unlikely it would be your diff if all you did was just change the cover with new fluid. Maybe another nut and bolt check? If you're able to put the car on the lift and run the car in gear to see if anything else might cause it. If in the case that you confirm it's the differential, the backlash would have to be checked. But I think unlikely if you didn't remove the differential itself.

I did the same work but put in solid subframe mounts and racing diffs clutches. I had no groaning but some light clunking, possibly from new diff shims and solid subframe mounts. I broke it the shims and kept driving. Eventually mostly went away. The typical 1st gear clunk is still there sometimes depending on timing of clutch and shifting.

[BMWahba]

Yeah my undercarriage looks nothing like that. Horror show actually compared to that. Wow

Thanks dude! It was a lot of work lol. Just about every nut and bolt was restored.

Beautiful resto job you did there. Did you have the cover off for an extended period of time? Wondering if it takes time for that visco lock to work the air out - just speculating. Hard imagine anything else would be affected by the work (or lack thereof) done to the diff. If you've driven many miles now, forget it - way beyond my paygrade.

I did have the cover off for a while, yes. The diff was groaning before doing all the work too, though.

I’m convinced my groaning was the cv joint that connects from the rear driveshaft into the diff. Unlike your car, mine was a bit rusty and the joint had spewed out all its grease. When i did my front shaft seal, that joint was repacked and freed up....that coupled w the new csb and Guibo most, if not all the low speed groaning went away for me. Of course it also could’ve been the new fluid though lol

I replaced that CV joint. It too was leaky. When I did all the work I replaced the CV joint, both input and output seals, new diff cover with OE bushings, and all new fluid.

Christ, that undercarriage is brand new. Lol that's awesome.

Re the diff, when you took it out for a first drive with the new oe fm fluid, did you go to a carpark and do a series of tight turns in either direction? Apparently this helps the clutch packs become coated properly in the fluid? Idk...

Fwiw, after I reinforced my rear end, I did a similar thing with new oe fm fluid. My diff doesn't grind or groan. I did replace the input/output shaft seals among a heap of other stuff but my diff centre wasn't touched (has ~55k miles) Maybe your diff is just on the way out?

Thanks dude. Yep - I did replace the input/output seals. I just find it very unusual for the LSD to go out at 105k miles, so just trying to get opinions and experiences from others on their experiences. Most people I know run their stock diff to 150k+ with no issues (minus the wear items like the seals and bushings).

What diff did you end up going with?

When I installed my 3 way clutch LSD from diffs online via turner

There was a 1000 mile break in period along with the figure 8's and the groaning binding noise went away.

Stock diff, I just refreshed it. I will try the figure 8's. It was doing this before I did all the work though so in all the miles the diff had on it, I'm not sure when the problem started happening.

[BMWahba]

Is that a single post lift? I want to see pics of your garage!

(And def do the figure 8's as posted earlier)

It is a 1-post. Actually it is my buddies garage. It's a pretty sweet lift for the price.

Swap gears while your doing diff work.

Also, the bottom of your car is insanely clean. Someone watches Redish videos.

I would have liked to, but honestly didn't know if I really wanted the 3.91s or 4.10s. I like the longer gearing. Regardless, I sort of wish I just replaced the whole diff now.

It doesn't sound like you replaced the actual differential or changed gears. I don't there there's a need for figure 8s. You typically only do that when breaking in clutches in differential. Might want to keep investigating to confirm if it is actually the diff. It's unlikely it would be your diff if all you did was just change the cover with new fluid. Maybe another nut and bolt check? If you're able to put the car on the lift and run the car in gear to see if anything else might cause it. If in the case that you confirm it's the differential, the backlash would have to be checked. But I think unlikely if you didn't remove the differential itself.

I did the same work but put in solid subframe mounts and racing diffs clutches. I had no groaning but some light clunking, possibly from new diff shims and solid subframe mounts. I broke it the shims and kept driving. Eventually mostly went away. The typical 1st gear clunk is still there sometimes depending on timing of clutch and shifting.

Yep, no gear change. I'm 99% sure it's the diff. Checked all bolts, definitely all good there.

I did remove the diff obviously when I did the work. The diff was groaning before the whole resto. Only happens at low speed turns. I am sort of just hoping that it was the wrong fluid put in there from the previous owner, and now that I have the correct fluid in there I just need to do the figure 8's and get it all lubricated properly. If that doesn't work...guess I'll be shopping for a new diff.

[bjz!]

Sounds like this?

[BMWahba]

Sounds like this?

That videos kind of hard to tell. I've only heard it while I am driving. I'll try and record a video.