Last night I installed a remanufactured CV half shaft on the right side of my '93 Honda Accord LX-A ABS Auto. The replacement went very smooth.

Today, I took my car out for a test drive. While leaving my apartment complex, I took a couple of turns slowly to see if I could hear any clicking. There was none. I then was driving straight at about 10-15 mph for about 100 feet when I heard a bump and then a grind.

The car immediately came to a stop. I now have no forward gears or reverse gear. When I put the car in 'Park', I hear a grinding noise as well. I checked with the auto store to see if they gave me the right part. The part appears to be correct.

I visited my local transmission shop to see if I could get some information as to what happened. He told me there are some spider gears around the transaxle that could have gotten knocked out when I was doing the replacement. He said he would have to take the entire transmission apart to investigate.

Before I have him do that, I'd like to get some thoughts as to what went wrong after my CV half shaft replacement. Have I lost my transmission altogether? I've never had any transmission issues with the car before this replacement.

Thanks.

 

Did you replace some of that lost tranny fluid during the job?

 

I checked the tranny fluid and there's a good amount in there. I never saw any come out while doing the replacement.

 

There is a snap ring on the inner Tripot assembly which may have been missing when you installed it. (#10 in the link provided) What this does, is preclude what happened to you from happening: the tripot disengaged from the trans output housing.
You have to remember that the axle has to be able to lengthen and shorten as the suspension moves. The outer part of the shaft is fastened to the wheel hub by the nut (#23 in the illustration) and the outer Tripot housing is held into the Tranny by the snap ring. The axle shaft slides in and out via those 3 ball (#8) sliding in corresponding grooves in the tripot housing. If the snap ring is omitted, the tripot housing will pull out with the axle movement, and will disengage from the tranny. That was the noise you got.

http://www.hondaautomotivepart...SHAFT

P

 

the diff spider gears don't just get knocked out by installing an axle ,they are held in by a pin ..what i am wondering is if you pulled on the inner joint and it came off the shaft ..u would not be able to see it cause it is covered by the inner boot, it would be # 7 on the illustration ,,if u pull too much they will separate ,,,,,,,Remove the axle again and chk for any abnormalities , make sure axle did not pop out of the tranny due to a missing locking snap ring as P_Adams suggested ..

Do not ,, DO not ,,,have the tranny shop tear down the tranny , especially after the explanation they gave you ,,if u never had any issues replacing the axle IS NOT going to damage the tranny ..

 

possible you didnt seat the inner joint, did you feel a click when pushing it into the tranny?

 

Thanks everyone for your resplies. Eddiebx called it right.

Call it the bonehead move of the year, or a rookie mistake. I didn't seat the inner joint completely. When I went back to diagnose the problem, I discovered that I didn't pay attention to the note in the Haynes manual. After discovering my mistake, I pulled everything apart and gave the axle a good push so that it's seated correctly.

Just got back from test driving it and everything is just fine. Talk about being in a panic!

Thanks everyone.

 

Glad it worked out. Seems we all were in the same church this time, AND the right peu as well.

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i hope you pulled it back out to make sure the linings on the axle wasn't grounded up or anything before putting it back together...

 

Yeah, I was sure to check i tout before putting it back in. I thought the grinding might have damaged it but everything checked out fine.

 

glad it is fixed ...
.....One thing really really bother me a lot about this,,, it is what the tranny shop told you that they were goint to take the tranny apart to invastigate....,,for pete's sake did they not notice that the axle was not all the way in,,?? if they had the car up in the air it is really obvious a blind man can almost see it ,,damn if it was a snake it would have bitten them .......I would not ever take my car to that tranny shop,,
again glad it is fixed and u are on the road ..

 

Yeah, I agree. There's a real chance for some skulduggery here. Say they took in the job, popped in the axle, let it sit in the back yard (out of sight) for a few days and charged him for 10 hours labor and a few gaskets.
Hopefully, that wasn't going on here; but it gives me the ******* just the same. I'd avoid that place like the plague.

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haha glad you got that squared away. one thing, go and double check your tranny fluid incase you lost some when the inner joint popped out.

 

deserthonda/P_Adams,

After I lost the transmission, a couple of guys and I pushed the car back into my driveway. I went back to the auto store in my Acura to make sure they gave me the right part. On the way back home, I decided to stop by my local transmission shop to see if he could give me an idea (even though I didn't bring the car) as to what might have happened.

After he told me what he thought the problem was and what he would need to do to diagnose it, I was a little suspicious. The reason I had even done this replacement myself was because of what I read of the experiences everyone had in doing it themselves. So, when he said something about the spider gears falling out, I thought to myself "I don't recall anyone warning about knocking the spider gears out or making any type of suggestion about keeping them in place while doing the replacement."

I came home, sat around annoyed and panicked for about a half hour and thought about the ugly reality of having to part ways with my beloved Accord if I really did blow up the tranny. My attitude was, "I broke it. I need to figure out how to fix it. Or, if it really is truly broken, how much can I get for parts." I went back out there, looked at the Haynes manual and discovered my mistake.

Yeah, but I feel that had I taken my car there, this guy would have pushed my axle back in, left my car out in the pasture for a while and charged me $300 for probably absolutely nothing.

 

i was going to say...i dont think the shop even put it in the air! Most wouldn't even bother if they think it's a transmission problem...and being that it's an automatic, it makes it even more of a pain to assume things