i have a mate (same lad thats selling the MV6 engine) who is giving me an MV6 diff for free. the only catch is that as he describes "its clicking and banging" so being a complete novice at fettling with diffs what do i look for when i open it up and what could be the cause of said noises? i would jump for joy if i can repair the diff and get it on my 2.5... that means i can do proper donuts and attack the odd traffic cone 

i shall be collecting the diff in about 20 minutes time.

dunno.. most if not all the oil that was in it has drained out in the back of his runaround clio lol but anyway i turned the input to the diff and it doesnt turn freely it feels lumpy like it will turn a bit then hit a lump then turn a bit more then another lump and so on. i dunno what oil was in the diff but if the lad i got it off put oil in it he would have put the correct oil into it. hes actually the guy that referred me to this forum.

we also hatched a little plan between us.. he is rebuilding his MV6 as his timing belt tensioner melted and shagged the engine so he is building another engine to go in and when it does he suggested we half the cost of getting the locking kit posted to us to borrow and send back and hopefully in a day do both cars cambelts, tensioners, do my PS pump and also fit the cams from his knackered 3.0 into my 2.5 while were at it. sounds like a plan to me  

anyway back to the diff.. assuming the correct oil was in it at the time what else could the problem be? it is turning but there is some resistance. ill ask him if he knows what oil was in it but untill then ill think the worst.

ok he says he doesnt know what oil was in it but the oil did look as if it had been in there since the car was originally purchased from vaux.

if when i open it up there are no stripped teeth and nothing is about to fall out do i assume it is just in need of a good cleaning and new diff oil?

Nope cos both wheels will spin, rather than just the one with less traction spinning while the other sits there gripping the road trying to stop the car going sideways.

Of course you need enough power to get both rear wheels spinning. I expect most of the Omega engines will struggle in the dry!