heard a rattling noice esterday and only happen when the car is moving ... at 1st i thought it was the shaft but it turns out that the noise coming fromthe differential ... anyone broke one b4? ... is it common? ... manage to get a second part ... waiting for it to be fix ...

 

My diff had a leak yet I caught it fairly early. If yours leaked too much there is a good chance it failed.

 

I have never heard of a diff failure on a W203 - most uncommon. amanonfire's car is an absolute lemon.

 

I've heard of plenty of blown differentials. Mine went a little over a year ago; I don't think it's that uncommon.

 

It seems everyone buys a rebuilt...but I noticed the parts for the diffs aren't that expensive when I looked up a few.

 

Must be yet another American problem - what fails?

 

Back in 02 and 03, there was a small group of people that called themselves the Broke Diff gang.

I assume it is from too much torque being applied.

Particularly from the standard trans guys.

 

Not an easy DIY without the correct equipment - how do people pre-load the pinion bearings?

 

got it replaced with a 2nd diff ... cos AUD$900 part alone ... 2 hrs labour etc ... at least its running again ... hopefully it last till i replace this car ...

btw i had the car boosted with kleemann pulley and sport exhaust and intake and sprint booster ... does any one of those leading to the diff failure? ... cos the sprint bosster is really make the car jerks when take off ... did that thing break diff ... cos i don't think those extra 20kw or so power increase will do the damage ... wot do u guys think? ... any technoguys can answer this q?

cheers

 

The extra power won't break the diff. Your 200K is probably only achieving what an American 230K does standard. How you drive the car can break a diff but you really don't have enough power to do damage unless you are brutal. Do you do wheelies at full lock? Is the car manual or auto? Take the sprintbooster off and just push the pedal harder. All the sprintbooster does is give you a more sensitive throttle & WOT at about 50% of pedal movement. Can make the car more difficult to drive smoothly.

 

My dealership said the seals on the rear diff are not that uncommon to leak.
Yes my car is a lemon... yet running well currently! <crosses fingers and knocks on wood>

 

<--- Needs to get under his car and check for seepage.

 

many thanks guys ... will try those suggestions ... cheers

 

+1 any axle will fail if it looses oil.

 

Reviving this thread , my diff went out yesterday , that together with my driveshaft support bearing ... No more burning out for me I thought this car was going to last a little bit longer, without me, taking it to a shop ... Rebuilding it,it's a bitc*!!! Just getting a rebuilt 1.
Hopefully I get my car next week , lesson learned! Just curious how much does the stealership charge for a procedure like this?

 

It's a Merc - It' heavy - No burn-outs & bull. Treat it with respect & it will treat you well!

 

Had to learn that the hard way

 

What's the fun in that, though?
A car that has to be babied is a car that is not well engineered, imho.
Linden - if you're going through the dealer for a new diff, it should be in the 3k range; much less if you bring in the diff yourself (though I'm sure the dealership would find new labor costs, somehow).

The best bet would be to take a rebuilt unit to an independent shop, like Bell's on Ridgewood just off Rte. 17 behind the Fashion Center in Paramus; they do good work. (and there's an Enterprise a short walk away)

 

Thank you , Tommy! I was going to say the same thing , but I'm pretty sure I was going to get bs from everybody! I'm using my wife's civic , yes civic ! I had an accord and really kept up with oil changes and service , and it lasted me 140k with only a clutch replacement! With a severe beating now and then! 140 dollars i spent on the clutch..replaced it myself, Sold it to my cuz and it's still running with 180k miles... Speaking about the benz ,I took it to a local shop a guy I know, 1300 for
everything including the support...
Dont insult me saying a benz is a benz i know !

 

Yeah, I'm kind of in the same boat; am driving around my crx while the benz's cluster is being looked at. 174k miles and still kicking, autocrossing, many miles each summer, etc. and somehow it magically doesn't have the same reliability issues as a car that's only used for daily driving.

At least I've been able to finally understand how to remove my armrest while the benz has been in sleep mode. It's a really weird setup.

 

I'm not talking about babying cars - I'm talking about being sensible. I will damage any car made in 10 minutes by abusing it & I've done my fair share of grenading cars. Our local Car magazine has just achieved to break every example of the new BMW twin turbo 7 Series it has been given to test. They broke a prop shaft on one car. That's abuse - not poor design. Breaking rear axles is abuse.

ADAC, in Europe, has just come out with their latest research on car reliability from 2003 to date and the C Class came out No1. Better than any Toyota & that's amazing.


https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...ding-adac.html

You might wish to read my comment that this excluded cars from the 2000 to 2002 horror period & cars fitted with the American version of the M271 engine. Factor them in and it would not have achieved this result.

It's your car & you can do precisely as you wish with it. You now know how to break a diff. You will no doubt break another one.

 

actually, i didn't know, until i opened it up and metal pieces came out of it

 

Ouch! It made no noise? Hope you get it fixed. I'm trying to get the message to Tommy that you don't get those sort of ADAC ratings if the diff is poorly designed.

I do sympathise. I had 7 Alfas in a row in my youth and managed to do some quite remarkable damage to a few of them.

 

Yes it did, it was constantly knocking. So my Diff and my support bearing , both completly shut , getting a rebuilt diff from PA, for 510, support bearing/flex disk 180 , ( since im changing everything might as well change the flex disk) , plus labor 1250 , i want to shoot myself!

 

Obviously, I've got a 2002, so that wouldn't apply to me. Much to my financial detriment.