was test driving a 1999 trans am with about 34k miles on it tonight at a local dealer. the guy who traded it in worked at the dealer and i got to talk to him on the phone before we even started it up.

seemed really honest about everything and told us all the mods on the car (lid and borla catback) and said he had never raced it.

well we took it out on the road and at about 60 mph the rear differential exploded all over the road, the smell was horrible.


what would cause a 1999 trans am's rear end to explode like that with that few miles?

 

So did you buy it???



Just kidding.

 

Tell him you'll buy it if he puts a new 12 bolt in at no extra charge.

 

This is obviously the work of terrorists.

 

First of all, anybody who has mods on their car and says they didn't race it is full of ****. Nobody wastes money on mods if they don't want something out of them. As for the rearend, it DEFINITELY sound like the diffy fluid was never changed, and it was probaby abused as well.

 

you should change the differential fluid after 34,000 miles???

holy crap, i shoulda changed mine 80,000 miles ago

 

I did a few mods to my old ss and it was never raced, so I think that you are wrong on this

 

werd, my SS has a lid and catback and some other minor things and ive never raced or abused it.

ive driven it like its meant to be driven sometimes but never abused.

 

I hear ya, that is what I have done with my old 01 ss and probably even drive less abusive in my new ss.

 

i don't race my car, i mean i open it up sometimes but i cant afford to pay for a ticket so doing crazy **** and racing are outa my equation. Plus i love my car i would never want to break it.

 

I didn't mean race it at the track with slicks and powershifts and such. I'm just saying that that people put intakes and cat-backs on because they want the car to go faster and/or sound better when they step on the gas.

 

Buy an extended warranty. Mine died when my pinion seal started leaking and then there was no more fluid, and it was under warranty. So I got a new one. Woulda cost like $800 bucks. Then with all the window motors your going to go through that alone will pay for itself. Really...Like 6 times a year I change them. And my AC Compressor went out after driving the Camaro 30 hours....STRAIT to california...I'm talking like at gas stations I didn't even turn it off...I left it running while I was pumping gas. That thing was like 1300 bucks to fix after parts and install and everything....but the rear diff blowing is nothing new....remember...your buying an american car..... It's like the tow truck driver I know, when he picks up Harley's, the owners are not pissed, they are calm, they knew it was comming...VS. crotch rocket people are pissed as hell when their bikes break down before 10,000 miles..... Just trying to set your expectation, it's a car, **** happends. But it's not bad. If the engine was steaming coolant or leaking oil then that's a different story......

 

I thought our cars were FWD, arent they?

 

I swear to god I have never raced mine. I just mod it because I like to.

 

Are you serious?

If it was a 6 speed car, it could have had one too many hard launches/clutch dumps under its belt. If it was an auto, I'd say it was probably a combination of bad luck and a poorly assembled rearend.

So did you ask the dealer if the price was negotiable?