For some time now I have been getting a bit of noise from the front left of the car and even more when turning tightly so eventually got underneath and found the LH front drive shaft had lots of play, assumed it was a CV joint away.

Car was due MOT anyway so asked them to have a look and replace joint/driveshaft.

Phoned them up to see how things had gone to be told all that was wrong was a worn bush on the rear suspension, asked about the drive shaft and they said nothing reported but they would have another look.

Drive shaft replaced, when I collected the car they said it was not the CV joint but the actual splines on the shaft, they showed me it and there was no drive through the shaft.

I always thought that if a drive shaft went you got no drive at all?

Much quieter and smoother now, funny how you do not notice these things getting worse.

Ian

IanV8 wrote:

I always thought that if a drive shaft went you got no drive at all?

Ian

You have a limited slip (Torsen) center diff so this would have locked and you would have been rear wheel drive only. The driver is supposed to be unaware of it's operation, but although very very smooth when kicking in there is usually a very slight delay before moving off. Although with an Automatic you may not notice this at all I supose..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torsen#Notable_Torsen_users

In Ye-Olden-Days you could remove the prop on a Range Rover and just lock the diff and drive on 2wd only. It's common with the Freelander that the center diff seizes, so people just take one of the props off! 

Thanks dan, I suspect I have done about 10k miles towing with it like that, did suspect it was not as good as it should be towing vans in thick mud last year.

Ian

Common on the P38 too. Viscous goes solidus.  
RRC 2Dr, RRC 4Dr,
P38, and 2 L322s
(wife thinks I'm nuts - prob right, too)

A chap at work has a XC90 and his mechanic asked him whether he was aware he was 2WD. Apparently after about 3yrs old, 60-70% of th XC90s this guy sees are now 2WD as the driveshafts are not made true and as such fail early. Again, no indication to the driver. He did go on to say that if you want a proper 4x4, get a RR as LR have been doing 4WD for many years!
Kind regards,
Ed '96 Volkswagen Polo 1.4CL - SOLD
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