86- 740gle estate Transmission noises, at the worst time possible! Help!!!!!!!!

Need to be in France next weekend 7th Nov.
The Diff began to squeal on my last French trip, got a French mechanic
to check and fill it within 1/2hr, it was nearly dry.
Since then I have had to fill it again 1k approx.
The real problem is that the whole transmission is now squealing.
Rear diff?
Overdrive unit?
Gearbox? (checked oil & looks ok)
Local garage has checked it and can not offer a decent answer.
A friend has suggested sawdust, not that I think this is the answer.
Can anyone please suggest the best course of action.
With 189k on the clock and little time or money to waste do I risk 2nd
hand diff, gearbox or overdrive unit, or cut my losses and scrap it?
I live between STOKE and SHREWSBURY can anyone please recommend any
Volvo garages fairly local to me?
Cheers Everyone
May be (will be) looking for a cheap estate if you can help mail me.

 

Bet on the diff. The lube leaked out again for the same reason the the
original leaked out - a bad seal that needs to be replaced. It won't be hard
to identify - there will be a patch of fresh oil around it. It could be on
the front, where the drive shaft joins, or behind either rear brake disk.

By all means, look into a 2nd hand unit. It may be too expensive, with
labor, but it would be the best solution. The alternative is to replace the
seal, fill the differential with lube, and live with the noise that comes
from the scored gear faces. There is a risk that a gear will fracture or
that a bearing will seize in the present differential. Additives may not
help, but at this point they wouldn't hurt. Sawdust cushions the gear faces,
but can make the bearing risk worse.

Your best bet may be to sell it as-is, with the buyer getting this info.

Mike

 

Cheers Mike,
There is no obvious point where the oil is leaking, looked
under over and all around the diff. The breather hose isn't blocked.
The oil seams to collect under the spare wheel bay. Really annoyed
with my local mechanic who seems to offer no other suggestions apart
from shrugging of shoulders. Thanks for taking the time to reply, Ian

 

If the oil leaked out of the dif, it could very well be damaged, at least
the bearing. With as cheap as used cars are in the UK, wouldn't it be easy
to find a perfectly good entire axel assembly out of a scrapper? It's not
very hard to pull the whole assembly and you practically have to do so to
work on it anyway.