Anyone ever have their differential not release??

[Vic]

When I drive out of my driveway, I'm going straight down hill. Then I turn to the right, so as not to scrape the fascia. When the car makes that first turn, a "clunk" can be heard from the rear end of the car.

All the suspension pieces appear to be tight, nothing rattles. The diff mount recall was already done in the factory on the 2001s, but we looked at the diff mount anyhow.

Could it be that the limited slip function is sticking in the engaged state, and thus the wheels are locked 1:1, until the first turn of the day forces the rear wheels to turn at different rates, and the clunk heard is the 1:1 lockup breaking free?

I changed the lube+additive, no help. Car has 17,000 miles on it. Took it in for warranty repair. Get it back tomorrow. Just wondering if anyone else ever had this symptom.

 

[95Viper]

I have a 95 and have heard the same thing. I go straight out of my garage for about 10 feet and then turn right. At a very slow speed I hear a faint clunk sometimes.

 

[Larry Macedo]

I would recommend adding a second bottle of additive to the differential or have it serviced if it never has been. You may also want to find a parking lot and turn the wheels all they way to their stops and do circles to see if this problem exists. Sometimes the spider or side gears may have a tooth missing and that will exhibit a clunk as well.

 

[Vic]

Thanks, guys. Here's an update, in case you are curious.

They changed the differential, put in a brand new one. Still clunks!

New theory- The control arm(s) are shifting around, and at a certain degree of suspension deflection, there is some play in the control arm bushing(s), allowing the control arm to move, and thats making the clunking noise?

 

[SapphireGTS]

My car does that.

All the clunks and rattles used to bother me but if you put it on a rack, the beefy-ness of the components will rival most 3/4 trucks. I think because everythingis so big a beefy its prone to do that.

My excursion makes that same clunk. I think the rear diffs the same. They cant both be broken.

Of course, maybe they could/.

 

[genXgts]

The nimwits didn't add the friction modifier to my diff after the recall, and had the same symptoms.

Drained the fluid, rehit with OEM with modifier and solved my problem 100%, hope you find your prob!