Phantom Posted May 6, 2005 Share Posted May 6, 2005 Or should I call it a howl? I'm assuming that it is the differential becasue it it's pitch is directly proportional to speed, not engine rpm. Also becasue adding oil affected it some. 1993 300ZX. Stock drivetrain, automatic transmission which was factory rebuilt about 30,000 miles ago. 105,000 miles total on the car. Differential has started to whine - louder & louder - VERY apparent from 40-65 mph. Backed the car up on ramps and pulled the plug. Fluid felt like it was about 1" below the plug so "filled it up". I was pretty focused on the oil thing so didn't try to check driveshaft input or half-shaft outputs for any kind of movement. There were no obvious indications of fluid leakage. Whine is still there but not as loud now. Goes away at above 90 mph but that's not too practical for school zones, etc. Sounds like I may be in the market for a new diferential? Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted July 18, 2005 Author Share Posted July 18, 2005 Follow-up on the original post. Wife wasn't too happy with me but I went ahead and got a used R200 ($250) rather than a new one ($1,600) and put it in. Now she IS happy with me. The whine has totally disappeared. She can't believe how quiet the car is now. I'm now 3 for 3 on used differentials. I just wish I knew what caused the one in her car to go bad. It's not normal for an R200 to fail - especially n a totally stock application. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperZ Posted July 18, 2005 Share Posted July 18, 2005 How sure are you the fluid was only an inch low? I developed a whine in the R200 in my '78 280Z, and found the diff completely dry. That was the last time I ever went to a Jiffy Lube, or any oil service place. But all it did was make noise; I drove it 20k more miles before I got sick of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted July 18, 2005 Author Share Posted July 18, 2005 Let's see. 1) I pulled the ramps out of the garage & set them up. 2) I backed the Z up on the ramps. 3) I got out the tools & the creeper & slid up under the rear of the car. 4) I removed the plug in the side of the differential. 5) I inserted the index finger from my left hand through the hole and felt for oil. Since the distance from the first joint to the end of my index finger is less than 1" and it came back with some oil on it I assumed the differential was only down about an inch But to ensure: 6) I got out the quart of gear lube and squeezed it into the hole in the side of the differential until it was level with the hole. 7) I looked at the bottle and it was down about 5 oz of oil. THat's how I knew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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