The car is a 1991 CRX Si, D16A6, L3-2332625 transmission code, 20 spline count confirmed when I swapped clutches approximately five months ago. Here is the issue:

The driver's side oil seal for the drive shaft input began leaking. No big deal - yank a few suspension components out of the way, pull an axle, swap the seal, reverse disassembly. The problem I have is the oil seal replacement part (91205-PL3-B01) has an inner diameter too large for the axle shaft. To my knowledge, all of the axles in CRX's are identical except in the HF model which uses a 35mm inner diameter instead of a 40mm inner diameter oil seal. I need to measure the diameter of the input shaft to confirm the sizing discrepancy, but . . .

I am wondering if anyone has other viable suggestions for the issue. Thanks.

 

maybe they gave you the wrong seal - the end of the CV joint that goes into the transmission should have a diameter of 26mm and should have 25 splines on it

 

JL - is there a spline count difference between 1990-1 HF and Si models?

I went to the Honda dealership and contrasted the oil seals - it is in fact an HF oil seal in the driver's side, leading me to believe the driver's side axle is an HF axle. Grrrrr. On that note, I opted to purchase a replacement HF seal for the time; I see no reason to purchase an Si axle when a motor swap is planned for the near future.

 

You might want to check the spline count in the knuckle, to see if somehow HF knuckles got on your car. That would certainly be one way to figure out what is going on here.

 

I counted three times - the driver's side knuckle contains 25 spline teeth, the axle has 26... The HF's reportedly have 23, and a quarter inch smaller diameter shaft. Any hunches? This is beginning to seem like someone swapped for a lighter weight half shaft while retaining the Si outer CV joint.