Quote:
Originally Posted by TiredGeek
So long as there's no weird noises coming from the area, particularly when your trying to make it work, and there's no signs of serious oil leaks, then pretty much it's going to be fine.
The angle gear has a splined coupling into the gearbox, it's designed to be a weak link and go before serious damage is caused in something else. However, they tend to wear and when they do they damage the shafts. This is usually terminal for the angle gear as well, unfortunately there's no way to tell the amount of wear on the splines without taking it all to bits. AFAIK the splined coupling was redesigned in ~'06 and improved.
If it's working, you just have to hope it's not too bad.
Look for a car that hasn't been used for towing, try to find a motorway car if at all possible (it's the starting that puts the strain AWD components, not necessarily the mileage) and then the latest model year you can afford  |
Valuable information - thank you very much.
It seems that most have tow bars which is something i was always been told to avoid and have up to now. My prerequisites are really narrowing down availability and no tow bar is making it even more difficult to find one. I want one now !!
