ilu

98 civic dx, auto to manual swap. everything is d-series.
on its maiden voyage, everything worked fine, except the driver side oil seal was leaking. we noticed that the seal was the same size as the one from the auto, so we put that one in. we sunk it a bit too far and it got chewed up. bought a new seal from o reilly auto parts. leaked. searched honda-tech extensively. from what i gathered, oem seals work better with oem axles, and aftermarket seals (timken) work better with aftermarket axles. since my axles are OEM repaired, i went to the honda dealership and got a new seal. every time we install a seal, no matter how perfectly flush with the transmission is, it's always sideways again after a test drive. am i missing something? we've used drivers to put it in, and this last one i took someone's advice (that he got from a honda dealer technician), greased the **** out of it, and pressed it in by hand. still spilled tranny oil, and i just looked under there and it's sideways again. i really hope i don't have a bad diff or else i'm going to have to make a 35 minute drive to go throw a transmission into someone's living room window.

Former User

Maybe you are not buying the correct seal for your transmission. Has it been swapped?

ilu

i swapped the transmission myself. the original seal had leaked. the transmission is from an EG civic, so i've been getting seals for a 95 civic as opposed to a 98. they fit very snug.

Former User

Maybe the transmission is not the one you think? Or the axles are not correct for the transmission?

ilu

the auto-to-manual swap said all d-series axles were interchangeable. it said to use the auto axles. when i brought my auto axle to the store and compared it to a manual axle (one of the boots was torn), they looked exactly the same (including spline length). i'm not sure exactly what the transmission is but i saw the car it was taken from--a civic CX hatchback. he put a b-series in it. the passenger side axle and seal is just fine. no leaks at all.

ilu

i read in another thread that a bit of play in the axle is a sign of a broken diff. like 1/16" of play. is this true? how can i troubleshoot the differential?

ilu

bump for diff troubleshooting.....

ilu

bump again because i really could use a little help on this....is my diff screwed, or is it the seal?

Linked

when i did my manual swap, it was a 94 ex trans going into a 94 auto ex, i was able to use my original axles, even when one axle ripped i bought a GSP axle from advance and it still fit good

cant give you any help though, but i thought i'd just give you a little info, if it helps or not

ilu

up one more time. seriously, no one can even tell me "you're screwed?"
(inb4 "you're screwed" as the only text in a post)

ilu

axle play was caused by the diff casing being broken. bearing is fine, but it moves around inside the differential.