Worth replacing rear on 2K GT ???

The damage is done. At very least you should slow it down by draining, flushing and refilling the axel housing. If you don't want to do this rather simple procedure by yourself, I'm sure you could find a shop to do it for you. This is a major issue that should be addressed before any more miles are put on that car. If you sell it you really should disclose that the rear end has water in it.

He's probably right, it does need a rebuild. You can extend the life by cleaning it out and adding new high quality gear lube - I like Valvoline synthetic or Mobile

1. It's a simple job that you can do yourself for about and a couple hours time. But ,800 is a little ridiculous. I had an 8.8 rebuilt with new gears, new bearings, and a Detroit TruTrak worm drive for ,100. I had the diff on my pick up rebuilt with new gears, bearings, and LSD clutches for 0. I would think an open 8.8 rebuild should cost around 0'ish.

Ron,

Seems to me the dealer is awfully eager to replace your diff and collect 1800 clams. I'd get a few other estimates, some from private mechanics, and see what they tell you/recommend.

Question: How in the world did you get water in your diff?

Patrick

".boB" wrote

Is there THAT much difference between the 8.8 and the 9? I had my 9" 3.70 trak lok rebuilt for $400!

No idea. A friend told me that going through a puddle can cause some water to get in through a top breather hole. (I guess that's what happened).

I did get more info from the dealer today regarding his refusal to change the diff fluid. In a nutshell, he said it would take a lot of work to disassemble the rear and check all the gears. If he was to do this, I would have to be ready to pay for a completely new rear if needed (not just for fluid change). I told him just to look around while the diff cover is off, but he told me it wasn't that simple. He also told me that if he just changed the fluid and I had an accident because of the rear failure, he would be somehow liable (which sounds like total BS to me).

I'm still at a loss at what to do. Every time I went to a non-dealer mechanic, there was some sort of f-up and I wound up paying twice every time. On one hand, $1800 is still cheaper than a new car. The engine is in good shape so maybe I'll just go for it. Sorry for long boring rant....

Oil seals ARE NOT WATER PROOF. If you submerge you axels in water above the outside axel seals for any length of time, you will have water seepage into your axel housing. The longer your axels are under water, the more water will enter your axel housing.

Not a puddle, but standing water...

Ok, since you don't want to / can't change the fluid yourself, here's a couple ideas.

1) Go to another ford dealer, tell them it's making noise. You don't know why, play dumb, have them look at it. If water got in there they won't know it until they're in there if then. 2) Go to another ford dealer, say you want to have the diff fluid changed as part of regular maintaince... if they say it doesn't need it, just say you're anal about it and have it done. Don't tell them about noise or water or anything else. 3) I have another idea if those two don't work. if a seal goes bad you can have the seal replaced which includes replacing the fluid. Again go to another ford dealer, don't talk about noise, it's leaking and it needs to be fixed.

Sounds like your stealer just wants to soak you for labor charges. It is not that much of an ordeal to dump the contents of the rear and refill it with gear oil. Use a high quality synthetic oil like Mobil1, Redline or Royal Purple. If the gears arean't already chewed up, that might solve your problem. Continuing to drive it with contaminated gear oil is a virtual guarantee that you'll need a new set of gears in the rear. An independent shop should be able to rebuild your rear for a fraction of what the stealer quoted you.

Also, to get water in the rear, you'd have to submerge it. I take it the car was a flood victim or someone attempted to ford a deep stream with it?

Cheers,

So you don't know if there's water even in there...? Note: Going through a puddle is not going to do it.

It is! Do NOT let this dealership touch your car! Only go back to ask him to put his diagnosis and recommended fix in writing. But I'll bet you he won't do it, because he knows the story is BS and won't want to be on record for saying it.

Find a local Mustang/car club and ask a few members if they could recommend a good mechanic.

Good luck! But remember, DO NOT let that dealership touch your car. They're crooks!

Patrick

I took it to a shop a friend of mine uses. The guy charged me $90 to change the fluid. He also didn't want to completely take apart the rear to see where the noise is comming from. Unlike the dealer, he told me that it was perfectly safe to drive the car and wasn'r surprised that the dealer was scared to get involved. (I guess I'll just have to wait till the whole rear locks up one day and I can have an excuse to buy a new pony :-) )

ROn

It's not going to lock up. If there is damage to the gears, it will progressively get louder and start to howl at high speeds. If it's not doing that now (after the new fluid was put in) then you're probably OK.

Cheers,