Bit of advice

[ermie571]

Hi all,

right, the Syncro is in my possession, insured, taxed and ready to go! Bet we have the warmest winter on record now....

Was running rough, missing shaking etc etc, so gave it new plugs, leads, rotor arm, dizzy and fuel filter. The one we changed was in the engine bay, an in-line plastic one. Now runs sweet! Ran it round all last weekend with silly grins. Got in mud (ok only a little bit) but got out again yeeeha!

Silly question time.

1. what do you do to engage the rear diff lock? We sat beside the road, stationary, and pulled the knob for the rear diff. There is hissing, but no green light. Pressed it back in. Does it need to be in gear? Kev said that he last used both front and rear last November, so may be stuck! Advice says to engage weekly as they like to be used.

2. Can I take it to the jet wash and attack it underneath with the high pressure hose or will that do damage to parts I don't wanna be hitting with high pressure water?

Sorry for daft questions, but I'm running on L plates here!

Em
xx

[silverbullet]

Em, get it on some loose ground, pull the rear lock knob and do a few tight "S" bend weaves. The lock should then engage. It's because the dogs in the diff are fairly coarse, so if they're not lined up exactly, it won't pull in.

Hissing may be a sign of a vacuum leak, but possibly just the seal on the valve unit leaking a bit until it engages, if it's been used a lot? Watch out for the crappy spring flying off the front locker knob if you decide to remove the locker panel to investigate the hiss...

[Mudlark]

Regularly jet washed under my van and not had any issues.

Diff lock only engages while you are moving along; wont happen while stationary. Even when moving it can take a while as their has to be a rotational difference between the wheels for the magic to work. Dont play with it on tarmac; get off road and drive in a circle and yank the knob out; if you get no green light either the diff lock is not engaging or the switch on the transmission is defective or the bulb in the panel has failed or there is a wiring issue. That means that the diff lock might have engaged but your just not seeing a light on the dash!

A momentary hiss from the control knob area is good; continuous hissing would be bad as that would indicate a leak.

[ermie571]

Thanks both.

Not often I hate being in a town....

while as their has to be a rotational difference between the wheels for the magic to work.

ahhh you need a bit of wheel spin....is that what you mean?

Em
xx

[lloydy]

No need to wheel spin Em, just turn in a circle at a slow speed (crawler gear) I go really slow, and when the light comes on, stop. You know then that it's all lined up, then I pull/push the knob to get the diff lock moving. If the light goes on off pretty quick you know all is good. I normally go to a local gravel car park to test mine

[ermie571]

Lloydy, thanks

so
1. find loose ground
2. engage growler/crawler gear
3. pull out rear diff lock knob
4. turn in circle real slow
5. green light comes on - STOP!
6. push in knob, green light goes off....if it doesn't pull and push till it does

repeat until green light goes off quickly.

that right?

L plates remember.....

Em
xx

[Mickyfin]

No need to wheel spin Em, just turn in a circle at a slow speed (crawler gear) I go really slow, and when the light comes on, stop. You know then that it's all lined up, then I pull/push the knob to get the diff lock moving. If the light goes on off pretty quick you know all is good. I normally go to a local gravel car park to test mine

Great advice right there!

[lloydy]

correct until number 6, just push in knob and wait until light goes off. When it does pull it out again, when light comes on push in knob again. Repeat until it works pretty quick. The bit that makes the above easy is stopping driving as soon as the light comes on. In normal use, you engage/disengage the lock as your moving, but to free it off it's easier to do the above

[Mudlark]

Also worth mentioning that if you ever were to get stuck with one wheel off the ground and spinning it would be advisable not to engage the diff lock until the wheels are stationary. Engaging the locking pin under those conditions puts quite a shock through the driveline and most of it ends up on transmission parts.