260E Diff

[R W]

I am new to your club & currently working in a remote former USSR country. I have owned a 1988 206E for the past 2 years & it has proven a very reliable & dependable car.However there has always been a slight noise from the diff but the past 3 months it has got slowly worse.There is slight movement on the pinnion bearings so it may indicate that it is a pinnion bearing starting to fail.The garages I have asked about repairing or rebuilding the diff say they have stopped repairing them as they need special tools to set up the diff & they have had more failures than successes. They have all advised to look for a second hand diff as the cost of a new unit would be more than the car is worth,they are quoting $2800.
I have a few questions some people may be able to help me with as my diff has a 3.27/1 ratio & has ASD lockup fitted.There are many more 230E cars in the country than 260Es so the chances of finding a 230E would be much better.
1. Was the 230E fitted with ASD.
2. Is the ratio on a 230E the same as my 3.27/1
3. Is it possable to renew the pinnion bearings in my diff without the special tools to re-adjust the diff or with the KMS of 210,000 the car has done am I wasting my time trying to repair it.
Any help with the above would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
R W

 

[television]

Your diff is not easy to repair, to set it up you need a trust washer kit and you need some experience of using engineers blue in order to be that the mesh is correct.
I believe the ratio for the 230 is the same
Yes ASD was an option on your car

Malcolm

 

[tom7035]

I think you can rely on Malcolm for the tech. info. regarding ratio etc. As far as renewing just bearings I feel would be wasting your money as it'll be the bevel gears which are actually making the noise. Once the case-hardening has worn no amount of new bearings, shimming-up or whatever will give you a long-term fix. My route would be as advised - go for a second-hand unit.
Good luck and please come back in due course with the results.

 

[television]

I forgot make sure if yours is auto, get a diff from an a auto and vise versa

malcolm

 

[R W]

Thanks for your help gents.My car is a manual but maybe the auto has the same diff. I will start looking for a 230E diff with ASD when I go back.As I mentioned the 230E is a much more popular car there than the 260 & the chances of finding a 230 would be better.I may even look at buying a diff in Uk & taking it back with me. Parts are hard to find in Kyrgyzstan as there are no breakers yards as such.If a car is badly damaged, most people have no insurance & they sell parts themselves & salvage what money they can get for the parts. Finding the people with the parts is a problem.
Thanks again for your advice.
R W

 

[television]

I do believe that the Haynes Manuel cover the specs of the diff. there are plenty of man box cars in the UK.

Malcolm

 

[Bolide]

Diff

Armed with your chassis number a helpful MB parts man will give you a partcode for the diff on your car. You then need one the same

There are ABS and non-ABS diffs, ASR and non-ASR diffs, plus a few more options I'm probably not aware of, then there are different ratios

Mercman in Southampton are always good for this kind of thing. I'd take some measurements of the diff & output flanges unless you bring the car with you. The last thing you want is to take a (very heavy) diff back and find it doesn't fit!

You might want to drain it before you ship it because diffs always seem to leak through the vent hole when you take them off a car and gear oil stinks


Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk