Auto GT Differential Problem

[Beachfun]

When turning at a T junction it feels like the outside wheel Is reluctant to turn and the inside wheel has all the power resulting in a skid! This is under light to moderate acceleration and is worse when the car is cold!
Anyone any ideas?

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[Jay-rod427]

How cold? Mine does the same thing when its very cold making a sharp turn. I'm talking 10-20° F. The limited slip does try to keep power to both, but cold pavement poor traction, and cold stiff diff fluid.

 

[EXP Jawa]

The axle lube isn't that stiff when cold, its not like its fluid for a viscous LSD. If it was, it would probably actually help the issue. However, the temp has its influence more on the tires (should I say tyres?) in this situation than anything else. Cold summer-compound rubber doesn't grip well. The bottom line is the clutch-type LSD can only do so much to help.

 

[Beachfun]

Even down here on the south coast U.K. temperatures have been around 4 to 10c (39 to 50f)
The diff still appears to favour the right side even when pulling away in a straight line!
I know that the P zeros are crap in the cold but just moving away at idle power and turning one wheel slips and feels lumpy.

 

[EXP Jawa]

Prop-shaft torque at launch lifts the right side of the car and plants the left. This is much more apparent on older live-axle models, where the torque acts directly on the axle itself, but still does the same thing through the body of a car with IRS. So, if traction is otherwise equal, a car will tend to spin the right wheel rather than left if given the choice.

You probably are dealing with cold sufficent enough to see a degradation in tire grip, which is probably a big part of the issue. But it would seem odd that it spins the tire just at tip-in off of idle.

I'm not sure what "feels lumpy" means, but if you raise the rear of the car off of the ground and turn one tire with the transmission left in gear, you should be able to differentiate the rear axle once you apply enough torque to overcome clutch preloading. It does have to be in gear/park for that to work. But the differentiation should be relatively smooth (again, once the preload has been overcome). If the behavior is otherwise, it becomes a dealer issue.

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