new differential in 190e 2.3, upgrade to lsd?
 

i have a 190e with a "loose" rear end. the car "clangs" in and out of reverse, etc...

this car shares the rear with the 124, so im seeing plenty of rears for about $200 in yards. how do i ID a rear with limited slip? how common are they in the same ratio as n a 2.3-8 with an auto?

As far as I know none of the gasser 300E's had limited slip....the diesels had ASD diffs....but that is hydraulically operated....

The 190E 16v uses a limited slip. You'd be better off getting one of those. I will eventually be putting a 16v LSD into my coupe as both have nearly the same final drive (3.06 coupe vs. 3.07/3.27 16v). Only thing I'd have to do to make it work is possibly modify driveshaft (yokes may be different) and swatch out the rear covers.

Only LSD diffs the 124's had were the ASD ones Paul mentioned. those were available in the E320/420/500 and some diesels.

I can only just imagine how an 8valver would behave with an LSD. the little 190 5 speed i have was VERY fun even with an open diff. :D

Clanging in and out of gear is sometimes a sign of worn diff mounts or bad flex disks. Have you looked at those already?

if 124 lsds are scarce, which 190e's had it? was it a common option? how do i ID it?

i understand that an ASD diff will act like a limited slip in a non-ASD car, with 35% locking at all times. and that the hydraulic provision to lock it during slipping can simply be capped off? is that correct? or can the ASD system be retrofitted to a non-original car?


and yes, i checked the mounts and flexdisks. the gears simply have a lot of "slop." the car can be moved quite a lot in park, and looking underneath it seems the driveshaft turns a quarter of a turn between P and D before the car moves.

I have a similiar situation with my '93 190E 2.6. I'm not experiencing any diff whine that I can hear, and last time I was under the car I looked at the flexdisks and they *seemed* OK. Just changed the diff oil. I can't seem to find a part number for a differential mount, and there is nothing listed at Fastlane as a diff mount for this car. When I first put the car in D in the morning however, I have to idle it from a stop or else I get a thump from the rear end. The rest of the day it doesn't do it. Seems like it has a lot of slop in it though, because when I let off the throttle at speed I can feel the sloppiness. Anyone know about a diff mount for these cars?

Actually, ASD is only in diesel cars, and the only factory USA 124 LSDs were in ASD equipped diesel cars.

How many miles on the diff? The original diff in my dad's 300SD was worn like that.....it had about 300k on it....probably neglected part of its life though. It was spitting out metal powder and shavings in the oil when we changed it, so we figured it might be a good idea to swap it before it exploded apart. We swapped in a 2.47 diff from a 500SEL, works great.

Oddly enough, his other SD has nearly 320k on it, and its quite tight. My SD has 283k, and it too is quite tight. Maybe only some of them go bad....or maybe the one that wore out was just extra neglected or something....the 2.47 from the 500SEL has 330k on it. :eek: And it is in great shape, go figure. It did have clean oil in it though, so it must have been maintained fairly well.