Differential whine

[mille]

We took our Pagoda out for a blast yesterday - it was a dry and sunny day, but still cold. We therefore put up the soft top and off we went, but a new sound became apparent, a sound we haven't heard before (maybe because we always use the car without the soft top??) It is a fairly loud whine and it is most profound when accelerating and decelerating. While coasting there is nothing. With higher speeds the noise seems to be less, maybe due to the increased wind noise. I checked the differential and to our horror we found that approx. 1 litre out of the total 2.5 litre oil was missing! We have seen some minor dripping on the garage floor, but in no way alarming, but in some way it must have gone. I have now added a product from Bardahl which claims to both reduce noise and to tighten the gaskets. Does anybody out there have experience with this product?Have we ruined the rear axle??  :x  Or will it go on for many more thousands of km??    And, what makes the sound, is it the bearings or the crown and pinion?  :?:  By the way I saw that SLS in Germany sell crown and pinion with the high 1:3.25 ratio @ EURO 714.00 - maybe an idea if we have to restore the diff!(http://www.sls-hh-catalogue.de/bin/dbframes.phtml?mid=IN02)

Thanks in advance for your advise, comments and views.

Cheers

/Finn

1964 MB 230 SL 4-speed Euro silver metallic with black leather

[merrill]

Finn,
my 66 230 used to whine when ever accelerating.  I completely drained the diff fluid and replaced with fresh.
no more noise.

while I had the plugs out (remember to take out the fill plug first so you do not get stuck if you cannot get it out) I cleaned them up.

mattt

Matt
Austin Tx
66 230 sl - "white"
78 300 D - Blue
98 C230

[Benz Dr.]

Replacing the crown and pinion is a difficult job. I think you would need special tools to set the back lash on the gear set. I've never had any luck with rear axels.
A small amount of oil loss shouldn't damage anything. The noise is more pronounced with the top up and even more with the hard top on.

Dan Caron's
 SL Barn
benzbarn@ebtech.net
 slbarn.mbz.org
  1 877 661 6061

[graphic66]

You can sometimes get a little more noise when cold. Also make sure you check the diff level with the car level and not jacked up. If you jack the car up the oil can run down the axle tubes and appear low.

[Benz Dr.]

That whinning sound is just Walter is the back seat wishing he had a Red Rocket of his own.

Dan Caron's
 SL Barn
benzbarn@ebtech.net
 slbarn.mbz.org
  1 877 661 6061

[Cees Klumper]

See Michael, the Dr is really back ...

Cees ("Case") Klumper in Amsterdam
'69 white 280 SL automatic

[n/a]

before you do anything.....check the rubber mount on top of the axle from the trunk.  This mount when worned out, will give you a whine that is intensified (amplified) by the trunk.  The axle on this cars are very strong, unless the oil leaked out or a bearing has failed.