Litespeeds

I was thinking about purchasing a 944 as a parts car and am wondering how I can check to see if this car has a limited slip differential.

I have heard that if you jack up the rear end and spin one tire, the other tire should also spin in the same direction. I have also heard that this is not always a true indicator if the car has limited slip diff.

I did jack up the car and when the car was in neutral, the wheel that I spun was the only wheel that moved. When I put it in 1st gear and spin a rear wheel, the other wheel turns the other way.

Am I safe to think this car does not have a limited slip differential?

Is there any other way to find out for sure? Any info from the vin number?

AznDrgn

sounds like it's an open diff. options code in the spare tire well is 220 for LSD. The '84 will have no provision for your speed sensor so your speedo won't work and the mounting for the late trans is different.

82-T/A

The Porsche 944 has a very interesting rear-end. It appears that the transmission in the Porsche is actually in the rear (may be obvious to you, but not to me).

If you spun the wheel in first gear, and the other one went the other direction, then it absolutely means it doesn't have LSD. Or... it means that the posi unit or clutches in the differential have gone bad.

I would suspect though, that there's a better way to tell. Perhaps there's a tag or a code somewhere on the transmission that would give it away.

I'd be interested to know what the result of this is as well...

Techno Duck

The option code sticker in the rear hatch should have option C220 or just 220. Its entirely possible the transmission was swapped though. You can get under the car with a mirror and look for the trans code at the top. I dont know the codes off hand, you can look on ClarksGarage and check the transmission section.

FRporscheman

^ what he said.

I have heard of people swapping out just the differential part of the transaxle. So you might be able to put the LSD into your 88 tranny. Try searching the forum for "lsd unit swap" or something.

apierce918

my car does not have 220 on the options code (i think they ran out of room for the options) but it was on the window sticker, bill of sale, and when i spun them in neutral they both went in same direction, option code doesnt reveal everything

Litespeeds

So the important thing to look for is when you spin the wheels, the car has to be in neutral and not in gear. I guess I am going to try that one more time and compare to my 1988 944 since it is parked next to it. Thanks for the info.

iloveporsches

You can do that, but it can get expensive quickly. I think the LSD units alone at $1000, and then you have to pay some hefty labor fees to get it installed.