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The car is a 2011 Mustang. 81k miles, stock differential, daily driver, 6 speed. Maintained very well and driven normally. I normally drive with the windows down all the time, so this may have been happening gradually for some time, however with the colder temps, ive had the windows up. I started noticing a whirring noise from the rear differential. I put the rear seatbacks down and it gets noticibly louder.
The noise does not change in pitch, only with speed. it does not howl or change with acceleration/deceleration except in pitch. It does not change on turns or clunk. I lifted the car and ran the rear wheels in the air and listened with a stethoscope. Its clearly coming from the differential area. I thought at first it may be axle bearings but the sound is largely coming from the center section.
So without pulling the cover, the only thing i can imagine it being are carrier bearings or pinion bearing. However I need help figuring out which it is. I did pull the fill plug and the oil is full and still yellow & clean. But im at a loss as to why either of these would fail on a stock differential at such low miles.
Here is a video I took running it up to about 45mph in the air. You can clearly hear the sound. Any input or things to check would be greatly appreciated!
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I do hear the noise. But what is causing the noise is the mystery. The
only thing I can suggest at this point is to pull the cover and have a look
inside. Put it in neutral up on the stands and spin the wheel. Look at the ring and
Pinion gear for a wear pattern or any other signs of wear. It could also be pinion bearing
or loose pinion preload.I’m totally mystified as well. Any rear noise I have ever heard in differentials has always been a loud whine or a rattling. Never anything like this.
I’ve seen so many rear wheel drive vehicles go to the junkyard with > 200k on them with the original gear oil and never once made a sound. I’m very confused on what is causing this.
I thought about pulling the axles to check the axle bearings. My hope was that the bad axle bearings were transmitting the sound to the middle. But I don’t feel any thing on the axle housing or hear any noise with a stethoscope from that area. It’s all coming from the center section as you can hear.
Definitely one heck of a Christmas present. This car is my baby and I treat it as such. Although I could do a full rebuild on the rear end from a technical standpoint. I don’t have the tools or the time to do so. Whatever it is, is not going to be cheap in afraid.
Anyone else have any suggestions based on possibly hearing something like the before?
Still factory sealed and never been opened. No marks on any of the bolts. Ive put 13,000 miles on the car with no issues and it just seemed to appear out of no-where.
[quote=”college man” post=181183]I wonder if Ford would take it under a warranty? Everybody seems to be giving 100k
on drive train.[/quote]Unfortunately not. 3 yr/36,000 mi basic, 5 yr/60,000 mi powertrain. So its definitely out by mileage and most likely by year.
So its either rebuild it myself (ive never done one, but helped a few times with them and i know there are a lot of precise measurements.. however i dont have the tools…press, dial indicator, in/lb torque wrench, bearing splitter at home), or really the time.. (i already do this for a living.) or find someone i trust to do rebuild the complete rear end, for a price i can afford.
Watching Eric’s 8.8 rebuild video for a recap at the moment.
here is the procedure. I would upgrade to a posi unit.
http://www.americanmuscle.com/eaton-31spline-88-posi-lsd.html
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