Hello,

My problem sounds similar to the one that lakeshorecivic was having, but none of the advice seems to fit my situation.

I just bought this car a few months ago. 97 Civic EX, manual 5-speed transmission, about 120,000 miles. I replaced the drive shafts just after I bought it. Was told the clutch might need to be replaced soon, but haven't looked into that yet.

Yesterday I was stopped at a stop sign and when I began accelerate through the intersection I heard a "thunk" from the engine compartment and immediately lost power to my front wheels. Luckily I was able to roll through and pull over on the other side.

The engine was still running and I could shift into all gears (even with the clutch out). When I put it in gear, I hear a whining sound from the engine compartment, but there's no power to either wheel. Also, the speedometer will rise if I put it in 2nd (to 5 mph), 3rd (15 mph), 4th (25 mph), and 5th (35 mph). No speedometer action in 1st or reverse. And, of course, I'm sitting still.

I first thought I might have installed a bad/busted driveshaft (they were remanufactured and cheap) and so I jacked it up and tried spinning the driver's side wheel with the transmission engaged in 1st gear. It spun freely. Then I jacked up the passenger side and it also spun freely. I'm thinking the odds of two busted driveshafts is a little too high.

I looked through the message boards here and thought it might be a filter/fluid problem, but I don't have a check engine light on.

Any thoughts? Thanks for your help.

Ben

 

Is there a large gap between the axle inboard joints and the transmission? Post some pictures.

 

Thanks, Ron. I crawled underneath it tonight and found the following.

Driver's side driveshaft:



And passenger side driveshaft:



I'm glad you asked for a photo, because I don't know how soon I would have gotten under there to see this. Clearly, my passenger side driveshaft is the problem. Is this a situation where I simply didn't seat the shaft correctly? Or is there something else going on?

Thanks for the help.

Ben

 

You either didn't get the passenger axle fully inserted into the differential or the set ring at the end of the axle broke or came loose. Pull off the passenger axle and inspect. If no damage is apparent, reinstall and verify full insertion as evidenced by a small gap similar to the driver-side axle.

 

and also refill your fluids in your trans ^ they have leaked out from the axle not having a good seal.

 

Thanks for the advice. Am I looking for damage only on the end of the driveshaft (the splines and set ring)? Or should I be looking for damage inside the transmission/differential as well?

And thanks for the recommendation on transmission fluid. I'll be sure to top that off.

 

Thanks for your help. I pulled the shaft out and saw minimal damage to the splines. It took quite a bit of work to get it fully in and engaged, but it's in there now. I also topped up the fluid, which was about a half quart low.

thanks again.

Ben