MattyBoii13

Sounds like maybe a bearing breakdown inside your box and/or some hard casing is impregnated into the 3rd gear set. try draining your oil and observe the magnet on the oil drain plug for build up of metal filings. if the filings are course then there is a good chance you got a big problem developing.

Hi I have an AE95R Corolla wagon GT. In regards to you driving with the diff lock on i suggest you read your owners hand book as it says not 2 drive on sealed roads with it on as it causes transmission windup. The corolla is a full time 4wd with 3 differntials with active torque split. by locking the centre diff it effectively makes both front drive shaft and rear drive shafts travel at the same speed which means that as you travel around a corner the front diff would need to travel faster than the rear as the front has the larger radius. by locking the centre diff you put strain on the transmission which increases wear and will cause premature transmission failure. Toyota's dont have the most strongest transmissions in the first place and suggest you only engage the diff lock when you actually need it or when on a loose surface. i have driven a fair bit in my AE95R and and noticed that unless i am bogging down in the mud, i prefer not to use the diff lock as the rear end tries to push the car around at the same speed as the front is trying to pull around. When cornering the back end wants to try and overtake the front and has once nearly put me in a high speed spin on a muddy road. this is due to the fact that the front wheels travel a further distance than the rears when cornering and therefore need to be spinning faster than the rear wheels and diff lock is then not required. Imagine how much tyre wear would be occurring as the car is fighting itself to get the weels to spin and slip at the same speed when on a hard surface. Anything else please feel free to ask.