I'd say if he can duplicate the noise by pressing up on the final drive, he's found his problem.
On the "semantics" episode, I was siding with ChasH until the statement, well here, I'll quote it:
Quote:
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Fact is the final drive might not contain a differential.
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Ummm, can you give an example of that, I'm confused and will readily admit it. I might be missing something, something that will give me an "Oh, YEAH!" moment. I love those.
And as far as the battle itself, if this would help get peace talks to ensue, in a Mercedes shop, if someone has worked on Mercedes for awhile, with prior mechanical experience, eventually you see the term "final drive" used enough that you start using that instead of the more generic term "differential". Before i was exposed to Mercedes, I know this is the term that was used, either that or just "rear axle". Of course I'm a little older and these terms were used regarding rear wheel drive American cars, before Chevy shocked the world with the Citation!
Anyways, when you start to work on Mercedes, the "final drive" name is used a lot, especially in the maintenance sheets, ie "check final drive oil".
In the REPAIR info, such as the microfiche sheets, it is usually referred to as the "Center Section".
I will also use the term "Punkin' " (pumpkin), ie "don't drop that punkin' on your head!"
Some of these terms might be used more or less frequently due to location, maybe? I don't see the big fuss in correcting each other, there are lots of terms like this, differntial, rear axle, final drive, hey you know what is being talked about, big deal. For some reason, I would be more apt to use the term "final drive" when talking about the fluid change, but if I had to REMOVE it, I would say something like "ah crap, the center section has to come out!" It's always strange for a guy who is used to solid rear drive axles to start working on IRS, to me that was always high tech Jag or Corvette stuff, it was a real leap to go into IRS.
If someone would ask about the differential though, I knew what was being talked about, no need to do a correction, sort of like if someone offers me a soda, and where I live they always call it "pop" instead, no reason to say "huh?", I know what it is! (and usually I want to say "only if you're out of BEER!").
Gilly