Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

So decided to change the rear diff fluid a couple weeks ago, before i changed it I did the jack up and spin the tires and see if they spin together or not. Did that and the other tire spun in the other direction....so assumed open diff right?......but then after a bit of driving I noticed a shudder as I turned corners when the fluids warmed up, drove 800kms to chilliwack from prince george.....Semi truck flipped on its side in the canyon...sooo hence the 800kms as I had to go through merrit via spences bridge.....anyway back to the story went to a mechanic there and he lifited it up and low and behold they spun in the same direction, he changed the fluid added the limited slip additive and all is good now!. averaged 25mpg on that trip even though was driving in a group of cars on the coke doing 130-140 for a bit

So not sure but maybe before doing a "spin test" make sure the diff is warmed up

Joe

Interesting. I would have thought they would have spun in the same direction regardless.

That being said, the one time it was demonstrated to the group (at Marty's garage), the vehicle had been driven there so the diff was probably still "warm".

X2 for interesting. Its the little things that so-called experts don't tell you that can bite you in the a$$.

Hey actual experts, how does one confirm for sure regardless of which way wheels turn?

If the vehicle was in park (or in gear for standard trans) the wheels will turn opposite directions, but with resistance, if you have a limited slip diff. If it was in neutral, and the wheels still turned opposite directions, I would suspect that your oil did not have the proper additive, or the slip clutches in your diff are getting worn. These are my thoughts

Jason

RichD wrote:Hey actual experts, how does one confirm for sure regardless of which way wheels turn?

There is a little orange-background with yellow-text sticker on the rear door (or the door pillar of the driver's door) reminding one to use LSD-specific oil in the rear differential.

Barring that sticker's presence (or absence), I would suggest one would have to read the description off the serial plate or the part number off the differential directly.

mararmeisto wrote:

RichD wrote:Hey actual experts, how does one confirm for sure regardless of which way wheels turn?

There is a little orange-background with yellow-text sticker on the rear door (or the door pillar of the driver's door) reminding one to use LSD-specific oil in the rear differential.

Barring that sticker's presence (or absence), I would suggest one would have to read the description off the serial plate or the part number off the differential directly.

That's specific to older models. Doesn't apply to L400s. Also that doesn't mean that it hasn't been swapped out.

I'm looking for identifying marks on the part itself, or a visual inspection one could do when changing fluids.

Jason is correct.

RichD wrote:I'm looking for identifying marks on the part itself, or a visual inspection one could do when changing fluids.

There are none. It is a 3rd member so you would in effect have to pull the whole thing out and see the ring gear / clutch packs.

if the cluck cluck packs are worn and there is no LSD additive or the oil is badly contaminated, then it will appear to be an 'open' diff when in fact it is not due to improper operation.

for those that do not know what a differential or limited slip (traction) is :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differenti ... al_device)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_slip_differential

Differentials for dummies :

There is a website somewhere that lists the default equipment fitted to each model by year, LSD is among them, so a lot of models got them as standard, especially in later years.