Front differential broken?

[Derek]

Good afternoon,

I am new to this forum and registered today.

I got a Volvo V70 CX AWD a couple of weeks ago and it was driving brilliantly up till last week.

I was making a ticking noise last weekend on the way back home and had a look under the car.
At first I thought it was one of the brake discs but with the front wheels of the ground i found out it was coming from the drive shaft area.
I had a look underneath the car and could see some fluid dripping . It is coming from the front differential . I could see it coming from where the shaft goes to the rear of the car.
I've sent an email to Autofix in Newcastle asking if he has time to have a look at this but i am wondering does anybody know what this is going to cost?

Is it a job i could do myself or are these very difficult to remove from the car without a bridge?

[JamesT5]

Good afternoon,

I am new to this forum and registered today.

I got a Volvo V70 CX AWD a couple of weeks ago and it was driving brilliantly up till last week.

I was making a ticking noise last weekend on the way back home and had a look under the car.
At first I thought it was one of the brake discs but with the front wheels of the ground i found out it was coming from the drive shaft area.
I had a look underneath the car and could see some fluid dripping . It is coming from the front differential . I could see it coming from where the shaft goes to the rear of the car.
I've sent an email to Autofix in Newcastle asking if he has time to have a look at this but i am wondering does anybody know what this is going to cost?

Is it a job i could do myself or are these very difficult to remove from the car without a bridge?

Hi Derek

The Driveshafts are hard to replace without a ramp and special tools. I'm not too mechanically minded when it coes to the workings of diffs and driveshafts but it's a job I'd leave to a garage. I can tell you that a Driveshat is around £170 - £180 plus labour to fit and as for a new Diff, I dread to think.

I'd set aside a few hundred pounds for this just to be on the safe side!

Finally, welcome to the Forum!

Regards

James

[stribo]

A ticking noise is normally due to a worn CV joint, and could be unrelated to the oil leak from the rear oil seal.

[Derek]

The oil that is leaking is no engine oil but more like a sort of gearbox oil?
It isn't black and doesn't smell like normal oil.
When i turn the wheels by hand you can hear this ticking noise coming from the direction of the front differential.

[stribo]

Yeah, the rear oil seal I was referring to was the gearbox rear oil seal, or propshaft seal. If you can hear ticking coming from the diff, then that's probably the culprit, and you may be better off trying to source a secondhand box. Unfortunately these cars are fairly rare, so it might be hard to find one.

[Dangerous Dave]

As has been said, could be any number of things.

The output shaft from the gearbox has a connecting sleeve which wears and causes a grinding noise, this in turn could wear the gearbox output shaft or the angle gear (differential) shaft. It could also be the differential gear has broken (perhaps due to the oil leak).

Replacing the angle gear is an expensive job, not only in sourcing the part but also in labour as it is a difficult task. It can be done DIY, I have replaced a couple with the car just on axle stands (not a nice experience though) a second hand angle gear can cost anything but I've seen prices around £200-300, and gearboxes a similar price. Other than that a new connecting sleeve is around £90 and there is a seal kit available for the angle gear.

Best thing to do is get it looked at to determine the exact problem, but be prepared for a hefty price.

Otherwise you can remove the driveshaft and run the car in 2WD mode, lots of people have done this and had no problems.

Hope this helps

[Derek]

The car is at the garage at the moment and had call today from the garage that he problem is with the CV joint.
If all goes well the we can collect the car tomorrow afternoon again.

[Dangerous Dave]

Not too bad then, the CV joint is a lot cheaper and easier to do than the diff or gearbox.

[Derek]

It is indeed. The propshaft will be repaired tomorrow and hopefully can collect it tomorrow and otherwise Friday.
Can wait to drive that car again.