All this talk of dying diffs.....

[mesobitchy]

is making me very worried indeed!

is this a common problem? i drive the VR4 as my day to day town car, and the last thing i want is the diff to go nipples north on me.
not that im parinoid or anything, but with my bad luck with cars, it will just be my luck for this to happen while im driving it!

[bradc]

The problem is that under heavy load such as hard acceleration in first or launches will cause the diff pinion gear (the small one) to move slightly away from the diff crown gear (the big one) Mitsubishi simply put too much flex into the original design. This causes problems with less of each tooth touching and can of course break them. Typically the diff will just go bang and make a few horrible noises and when you pull apart the diff starting at the input side you'll pull out a shaft with a hole bunch of mangled up teeth on it.

The second problem which happens a bit more rarely and is less of a problem is that the housing can split inside the diff which allows the ATF to mix with the gear oil under pressure. The ATF isn't designed for lubricating the diff gears and will eventually cause them to whine and ultimately fail. The Amsoil ATF should be a bit better for a diff that has had this happen to it, and it will need to be changed more regularly, say every 15,000km rather than every cambelt change (80-100,000km)

[mesobitchy]

we have the vr4 serviced fully, as in all fliuids changed at 4 to 4.5k intervals.
im still a tad worryed about this diff stuff tbh.

[TAR]

This is not a common occurrance as far as I can see. I believe that those with the failed diffs are also running increased power. If you stick to the service schedule I'm sure you don't need to worry.

[Turbo_Steve]

Maz I agree, you should be fine.
It tends to be the guys running higher power who don't drive it sympathetically.
It also appears to be a little more common on the manuals than the autos, due to the smoother torque delivery of the auto (if you don't launch it).

[mesobitchy]

okies i will have to behave then
cos sometimes i get the devil in me.......