redline shockproof heavy in a torsen rear-end?

[1 FMF]

looking for opinions.
2002 Camaro with the infamous 7.625" noisy rear end; torsen differential, 3.42 gearset.
I have 9000 miles on the car and a leaking pinion seal. Haven't decided whether it's worth taking it into the dealer yet to replace pinion seal under warranty... and screw up the pinion bearing preload and wreck everything. It has a slight hum/whine at 65mph +/- 4mph, all other speeds it is satisfactory. I'm running valvoline durablend in it right now no friction modifier, 80w-140 with about a 30% dose or 1/2 bottle of lucas oil additive. Lucas claims it helps quiet gearboxes and it's been sitting on the shelf in the basement for over a year so I thought I'd try it just to get rid of it. It didn't quiet anything. I changed the factory oil at 1000 miles to redline 75w90 and even added a bottle of their friction modifer/break-in additive. At about 3k miles the pinion seal started leaving drips on garage floor; I changed the diff at 8200 miles to the durablend/lucas. I think it slowed the pinion seal leak a little but haven't honestly monitored it. At all gear oil changes, everything looked fine too, and the ring gear wear pattern looks good.
Other than going with redline 80w-140, I want to give the shockproof heavy a try. I figure all I need is 2 quarts, so it'd be less than $20 to experiment. How many miles can I safely go you think on the shockproof? The car is a daily driver and doesn't see any clutch dumps.

 

[MolaKule]

There is no way to predict with any certainty the mileage you can expect from the Redline shockproof, but it would be a better oil. With a possible drive pinion seal leak, you might want to add some Auto-RX to the diffy oil when you add the schockproof.

 

[Toy4x4]

I would call Redline themselves. I added the SPH to the rear of my truck and it seemed a bit sluggish. I called Redline and they said it shouldn't have been used---wrong application. I think it is used to protect drag racers rears. Also, from a test that Bob did, it is very hard to remove/clean out. I probably still have about a 10% mixture of it mixed with the Redline 75w90 I put in.
Call Redline, they were helpful.

 

[VaderSS]

Torsen recommends GM limited slip additive to quiet the "rusty screw" sound. If that doesn't fix it bring it in.

Personally, if you are getting noise going in a straight line, sounds like ring and pinion trouble, not the Torsen.

As for using heavier oil, here is what Torsen told me when I asked about it;

quote:

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-----Original Message-----
Sent: Monday, May 26, 2003 1:13 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Gear oil wieght


I've been told that running a thicker oil, such as 80W140 will result in higer biasing with my Torsen T2.

Is this true?

Thanks,
Wayne Bengston
1996 Impala SS


Just the opposite! You will see a decrease in bias because the thick film will keep the internal parts apart. The Torsen works because of friction and thrust forces. The drop is noticeable if you go from ATF to an 80W140, around 0.6:1 whereas if you went from an 80W90 to 80W140, the drop is around 0.2:1.

Thanks for the question and interest in Torsen.


Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2003 5:01 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Gear oil wieght


Since the recommended oil is 80W90 gear oil in my 96 Impala's differential, that would be the best one to run. Is that correct?

Yes, we always recommend that the driver follow the vehicle's owners manual for lube specifications!

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