hi all, ive just got my first fd3s.
one problem i have is that there seems to be wear in either the gearbox or diff as the car has lots of slack in the drive unless under reasonable power, it feels like backlash in the diff and occurs when coming off the power then coming back on the power, what i want to know is are the diffs a common problem? my car haS done 63000miles. or is it more likely to be something else?
thanks

 

I've heard of diff problems, but mostly on moderately modded cars.

It should be easy to find the slop in that case - just unbolt the driveshaft and rotate the pinion flange with the e-brake on. Since the rear wheels will be held tight, any rotation in the pinion is either backlash in the diff or in the half-shafts. And you'll be able to see if the half-shafts are moving.

Another possibility is you have bad engine or diff mounts. The drivetrain will twist a good bit under load if there is a bad mount, and with the full momentum of the car pushing it, it may seem like slop. Get both of those mounts checked out.

Dave

 

I currently have this problem as well and have had it since I bought my car with approx 100k miles. In my car, it's the Torsen unit, not the ring & pinion. The helical gears are slightly worn which is causing the slop. I'm running on borrowed time. *crosses fingers* Anyone have a S4 TII unit they want to sell?