[s-cars] Question for all you Torsen experts!

[Paul Heneghan]

Hello chaps,

I have a Torsen-related question.

About six months ago, I discovered that the front right outer CV boot
had split, and all the grease had been sprayed out of the joint onto the
inside of the wheel.  As I didn't have the time (or the weather) to do
the job, I used the ostrich approach and left it!

A few months ago, the joint started to clunk a bit.  I knew what came
next, so I kept the power down whenever full lock was used.

On Friday, I pulled out of a side road, started turning right, saw a car
bearing down on me, and jabbed the accelerator a bit.  There was a
crunching sound, lots of revs from the engine, but no drive to the
wheels.  I took it out of gear and coasted to the side of the road.  I
then tried engaging gear a few times, but could not get any drive
whatsoever to the wheels.

On Saturday afternoon I spent a couple of hours in 18C sunny conditions
replacing the CV joint with one I bought off eBay in January, so it was
worth waiting.

Now, according to my superficial knowledge of 1995 UK spec S6 cars,
there is an open diff at the front, a Torsen at the centre and an open
diff at the rear.  In addition, there is some clever trick called EDL to
do with applying the brakes to a spinning wheel so that the relevant
diff (front or rear) puts some torque into the opposite wheel - I don't
know whether EDL applies to the front axle, but it certainly applies to
the rear axle and is the reason that 1995 cars don't have/need
(debatable actually) the locking rear diff.

So, why could I not get any torque to any wheel with one front axle
effectively broken?  If there is no EDL on the front axle, then I'm
happy that equal (zero) torque got applied to both front wheels.  But
what was the centre Torsen diff doing during this time?  This is the
first time that I would have got real benefit from it, and what did it
do?  Bugger all!

Any experts (SJ etc.) want to throw any light on this?

I bet I wouldn't have had this problem with my old 1984 Audi 80 quattro
with its front and rear lockable diffs!

Incidentally, I discovered the reason for the CV boot problem.  Two
reasons actually.  The first reason is that the boot wasn't split, it
had come off the CV joint because it was the wrong size - the diameter
was much too small.  I checked to make sure that a bit hadn't fallen
off, but it's in one piece and actually in fairly good condition.  The
other reason is that it was fastened on with plastic tie wraps instead
of those crimped metal clips.  There's no way you can get the same
fastening force from a cheap and nasty tie wrap.  Once again, it
confirms my theory that if you want a job done properly on your car, DO
IT YOURSELF!  I've had so many bad experiences with so-called
professional jobs done on my cars over the years.

Anyway, it's back on the road - almost completely clunk free now (I just
need to change the anti-roll bar bushes next).

Paul

p.s. I had fun trying to find the front towing eye.  Eventually I had to
ring my 12-year-old daughter and get her to read the bit out of the
owner's manual.  It's behind the front right lower grille.

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