E55. Does mine have an lsd or not?

[Dazzler]

Mine often acts like it does have one...2 lines can be seen plus pulling away the back will step and hold but can't find it listed in its history anywhere.
Any definitive way of testing?

 

[MancMike]

Jack up the back end. If you can turn one wheel, and the other turns the opposite way, it's an open diff. If it turns the same way and is stiffer, it's an LSD.

You can do it with the engine running and it in D, so it's 'walking'. If you can hold a wheel still by hand, it's an open diff spinning the power on the other wheel. An LSD will turn regardless of your feeble effort. This is obviously pretty dangerous and much care must be taken. It's what I did with my RX8, safer option is with engine off obv.

 

[MOR8A]

My old E55K did not have it but would spin both wheels in a straight line no problem at all.

 

[Dazzler]

My old E55K did not have it but would spin both wheels in a straight line no problem at all.

How does it manage this with an open diff tho?

 

[whitenemesis]

Slip resistance the same at both wheels...

 

[Mr Kripling]

Jack up the back end. If you can turn one wheel, and the other turns the opposite way, it's an open diff. If it turns the same way and is stiffer, it's an LSD.

Not true for a Quaife, unfortunately - if both wheels are off the ground it behaves just like an open diff.

 

[notsofast]

Should be possible to see it from the VIN decode?

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/general-discussion/207857-checking-vin.html

 

[daveenty]

Not true for a Quaife, unfortunately - if both wheels are off the ground it behaves just like an open diff.

Mine doesn't

On a ramp, turn left wheel forward, right wheel goes forward.

 

[Alps]

if it has a 030 code on the data card it may well have.. if not it may have been fitted afterward by the previous owner.

mine was lucky to have the 030 option added which delayed the delivery to the original owner by 6 months due to it having to be fitted at another AMG plant.

 

[MancMike]

How does it manage this with an open diff tho?

As said, same weight and traction on both wheels. They both have to turn. Why would one go faster than the other?

If you're stuck in the mud with an open diff and one wheel has traction, the other slips and spins the power away. On a road, you've good traction on both.

The party piece of an LSD is traction out of corners. I don't have an LSD in my 280 obviously, and if I boot it around a tight left hander, the weight being thrown to the right lifts off the NSR wheel and it spins the power away. In a straight line, an LSD doesn't give you much benefit unless the road surface is uneven, slippery or wet.

 

[John]

As said, same weight and traction on both wheels. They both have to turn. Why would one go faster than the other?

On every previous rear wheel drive car I've ever had, wheel-spinning always left a single line where the car had no LSD (with respective ESP off).

My E55K is the first car to leave an 11 everytime and it doesn't have an LSD.

 

[MOR8A]

On every previous rear wheel drive car I've ever had, wheel-spinning always left a single line where the car had no LSD (with respective ESP off).

My E55K is the first car to leave an 11 everytime and it doesn't have an LSD.

Having tons of power and torque help!

 

[John]

Having tons of power and torque help!

That's what I understood from when I posted this query up! :bannana:

 

[nickjonesn4]

wait until it rains, select 2nd gear and boot the crap out of it halfway round a roundabout. if you end up in a ditch you don't have an LSD.

 

[Growy16]

wait until it rains, select 2nd gear and boot the crap out of it halfway round a roundabout. if you end up in a ditch you don't have an LSD.

Brilliant!!

 

[Dazzler]

wait until it rains, select 2nd gear and boot the crap out of it halfway round a roundabout. if you end up in a ditch you don't have an LSD.

Random......

 

[Mr Kripling]

Mine doesn't

On a ramp, turn left wheel forward, right wheel goes forward.

Next time, see if your driveshaft is rotating at the same time. If the ring gear on the diff is held stationary then turning one wheel will definitely result in the other wheel going in the other direction.

It could be that the Quaife has more internal resistance than the standard open diff, hence the behaviour.

 

[nickjonesn4]

Random......

point made in a silly way but ultimately when the road is greasy is when you would feel if you have an LSD. Unless you are Lewis Hamilton, any over enthusiastic use of the throttle on a greasy road would get the ESP flashing and the car sliding. If you have an LSD in place unless you are the most leaden footed person on the planet then you will get traction.