Differential Help

I just bought my 2002 trans am in Feb and had it in storage until yesterday. The differential cover was seeping alittle bit. I took off the cover to change the gasket and re-silicon it but when I took it off there were little chucks of steal in it. They look like parts of the teeth. All the visible gears look fine so im assuming its coming from the spider gears. Im not sure? It this something I should worry about immediately or wait until the diff gernades? Or is this common and can go for a while like this? Please let me know. Thanks.

Can you post a pic?

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Originally Posted by 02cetransam

I just bought my 2002 trans am in Feb and had it in storage until yesterday. The differential cover was seeping alittle bit. I took off the cover to change the gasket and re-silicon it but when I took it off there were little chucks of steal in it. They look like parts of the teeth. All the visible gears look fine so im assuming its coming from the spider gears. Im not sure? It this something I should worry about immediately or wait until the diff gernades? Or is this common and can go for a while like this? Please let me know. Thanks.

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Well you say it looks as if the pieces came from teeth....... How big are the pieces? Compare them to something we can relate to.
If it is from the spider gears 80% of the time it is from the limted slip being burnt and someone doing JohnForce 1 wheel peel burnouts.
When only one wheel spins and it's going a 100mph and the other is rolling 5-10mph the spider gears inside are going 300. That is what usually breaks them.
Depending on how big of pieces they were would determine if you should fix now or wait for....:bomb:.
How many miles are on the car also?

The car has just under 50 000 miles and the pieces are very small (about the size of a the tip of a broken off pencil). There were about 50-60 of these in there along with metal fillings on the magnet. The car has tcs if that makes a difference and there doesnt seem to be any rear end noise. Thanks.

Put some good synthetic fluid in it and call it good then!!!

After all the oil was drained, I cleaned it all up with brake cleaner then put the cover on and filled it up with synthetic. I just didnt know how worried I should be about this. Will it likely just blow up or will there be some warning signs? Thanks alot for this info.

usually You'll Get Some Whines Or Grinds Before Hand.

I cant see the spider gears on my rear end. Is that normal for these cars or has a racing differential been put in? Please let me know.

It all depends on what carrier you have. It could be the design of the housing to where the inner is not that visable.

It is that design...you cannot see the spiders. Does that mean I need to use an additive?

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Originally Posted by 02cetransam

It is that design...you cannot see the spiders. Does that mean I need to use an additive?

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The additive is for the clutch type posi's. Most of the syn. oils slresdy have the additive in there blend.Not sure whos you put but I know RoyalPurple and RedLines don't require it.

I used the synthetic diff oil right from GM. Im not sure if it had the additive or not. Will it say on the bottle?

It should have a footnote on the back saying something about the additive being needed for LSD.

alright, I will take a look. Thank you for the info.