Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

So the back is in the air to adjust the handbrake.

If i rotate the offside wheel the nearside remains still and vice versa. So is that a knackered box or how a 944 LSD is?!

How do you know that you have an LSD? This is a considered question btw, so 'option M220' isn't enough to be sure - it tells you that the car had one, but that was at least 28yrs ago. Ive seen cars which have had the transaxles removed/swapped and cars with the correct code transaxle which have had the LSD removed.

A far better check would be to use a roller under one wheel. Failing that, the garden check is usually reliable (3,500rpm, dump clutch and look in rear view mirror: one plume of earth and grass = open diff: two plumes = LSD - looking at the marks on the ground is preferable if its someone's lawn)...

.... or a gravel car park

That confirmed mine

Generally speaking though, if you have an LSD then both wheels will rotate in the same direction if one is turned, if just one turns and the other is still or contra-rotates then no LSD ..

G

The other way is to look out for a gearbox oil cooler near the fuel filter. I know my Turbo had this.

If it has one, you'll be able to feel it's there just by powering off an apex of a slow-speed corner: you'll need to wind the lock off more quickly than a car with an open diff (or even add a dab of oppo). If you can't feel it working and from the axle test you mention it sounds like an open diff that's just spinning the output shaft; stick it in gear and the other wheel will turn in the opposite direction if an open diff.

Some cars (like my 86 951) even came with LSD from the factory but don't have the 220 code. I have a heritage certificate for my car stating it was there from the factory, but it has no code on the build sticker. My view on this is that Porsche (either at the factory or Porsche UK) spec'd some of the early cars with all the toys and these were either demonstrators or sold off the forecourt. Had a buyer have spec'd the option it would have been more likely to have been on the build sheet... Either that or the 86 cars had an LSD as standard?..