E30 diff problem

[Jalmarsson666]

Hey I have 168 Lsd on my e30 and did a cheeky burnout today but afterwards it started acting like a welded diff, when i do a sharp turn it makes a loud clunking noise and feels like a welded diff, when jacking it up on one side i can spin the wheel half a turn freely then it locks up, with both wheels in the air both wheels spin in same direction without problems, anyone know what couldve happened? I took the back cover off and everything seems fine, however I'm still relatively new to working on cars so I've never opened a diff up before but there are no metal shavings to be seen and oil looked fine.

[superj]

We need someone who has messed with diffs to answer here

[msservices]

Sounds like a problem with the spider gears, which will most likely need to be replaced

[Jalmarsson666]

Correct, opened it up to find this

[superj]

Holy crap

[aaverhulst]

Now you know what happens when you do a "cheeky" burnout with a wimpy differential and 3.4 M30 in a 30+ year old car.

[superj]

whats a 168? the last three to a diff from an m10 car?

[richardodn]

I believe 168 refers to the size of the ring gear. Basically a Type 168 diff is a small case diff found on the 4 cylinders. The Type 188 diff is called the medium case and found on the 6 cylinders.