expected life of the dif in my 1995 e300D?

[t walgamuth]

What should I expect with these? Mine seems to have a lot of play in it...when I put it in park the car rolls more than I think it should.

[Stretch]

If there's a whine then the differential is likely to be at fault (this could have been stuffed with saw dust so it might be hard to tell!)

Otherwise I'd look at other parts such as - flex discs - axles - park pawl in transmission...

[sixto]

Did you isolate wear to the diff? There's flex disks and diff mounts to consider.

Sixto
87 300D

[300GD]

My car does this too, yet There doesn't seem to be any noticeable slop during gear selection (P-R-N-D), which seems odd.

[pawoSD]

The rolling could also just be the distance between slots in the parking pawl gear.....

[compu_85]

I'd listen for a clunk going between D and R while holding the brake to judge diff wear.

-J

[RunningTooHot]

I'd say don't worry about it. There does seem to be (relatively) a lot of movement with the parking pawl engaged on the '95's - allowing quite a bit of rolling in comparison to many cars. I'm at almost 411,000 on mine. Change the fluid out, and enjoy your car!

[t walgamuth]

Originally Posted by compu_85

I'd listen for a clunk going between D and R while holding the brake to judge diff wear.

-J

It clunks sometimes too.

[t walgamuth]

Originally Posted by RunningTooHot

I'd say don't worry about it. There does seem to be (relatively) a lot of movement with the parking pawl engaged on the '95's - allowing quite a bit of rolling in comparison to many cars. I'm at almost 411,000 on mine. Change the fluid out, and enjoy your car!

Cool, thanks!

[charmalu]

You do use the Parking Brake....right?

Charlie

[jay_bob]

Something I have taught my sons and wife, especially when parking on a slope:

- Apply and hold foot brake
- Put car in Neutral
- Apply parking brake, while holding foot brake
- Release foot brake, allow car to rest against parking brake
- Put car in Park

This takes all the loading off the transmission/driveline/motor mounts and keeps it in the rear wheels where it is designed to handle it.

[Chris W.]

Shot diff mounts will cause a clunk as well.

Rgds,
Chris W.
'95 E300D, 410K with new diff mounts

[300GD]

Originally Posted by jay_bob

Something I have taught my sons and wife, especially when parking on a slope:

- Apply and hold foot brake
- Put car in Neutral
- Apply parking brake, while holding foot brake
- Release foot brake, allow car to rest against parking brake
- Put car in Park

This takes all the loading off the transmission/driveline/motor mounts and keeps it in the rear wheels where it is designed to handle it.

You guys are right about the use of the parking brake. However, in this case, even on a very slight slope where you wouldn't normally think to apply the parking brake in most cars, the car will roll a bit after being put in Park.

[t walgamuth]

Originally Posted by charmalu

You do use the Parking Brake....right?

Charlie

Not in cars with an automatic.

[Zulfiqar]

my car was also a clunky one in Park, uptil the time I redid the driveshaft bearing procedure. New mounts at the back also helped, You will be pretty amazed how much the subframe bushings count for noise supression.