exploding diff

now what's all that about, someone told me that it could be a BIG problem if it's not sorted, and to be frank he's given me the willies.  have any of you guy experienced this, no not the willies the exploding diff.

I've heard of it happening on a few mk1s but it's not a common thing. I shouldn't worry too much, unless you're running 180bhp through an 020 gearbox!

Cheers,

Drew.

The potential problem is that the crown wheel (big cog on the outside of the diff assembly) is riveted to the diff cage, and with age (but more likely a lot of extra horsepower), the rivets can loosen and eventually fail, causing instant death for the whole gearbox (as all sorts of stuff goes flying about, breaking off more stuff, which… you get the picture).

The thing to watch for is a click/clonk sound as you engage/disengage power through the gearbox.

However, as Drew says, unless you've a lot of extra BHP to play with, or you are very unlucky, you probably won't ever encounter this issue (thank goodness).