New member here who found great troublshooting tips from you folks on idle bounce and thermostat ground. A big thank you to the members for excellent tips!

After two years down with blown head gasket, had engine in my 1996 5-speed civic hatchback replaced. It drove OK for 50 miles then I heard a loud pop from under hood after starting from stop sign. Lost drive and coasted to a stop. Had it towed home.

With engine running am able to shift into all gears including reverse with clutch disengaged. Also able to shift into all forward gears with clutch engaged by allowing synchromesh to work. Can hear synchromesh speeding up the internals when going through each gear. Speedometer shows speed but the car won't move.

This seems like something broke inside the trans but I am hoping it is a linkage problem. I looked for posts on the subject but maybe didn't use the right search terms. Hoping someone will contribute to my continuing education.

 

So you can shift through the gears, and your speedometer says you're moving, but you aren't actually moving?

Sounds like your differential is shattered.

 

Maybe it's something simpler, like an axle popping out of the differential?

 

Both axles at the same time? Doubtful.

 

It only takes one to pop out to make that happen. Happened to me a while back when I owned a 93.

 

That would be my guess.

You only need to have one pop out. Unless the trans has an LSD it wont move with one axle.

Also, as a general rule of the speedo goes up and the car doesn't move=broken axle or axle popped out of the diff. Speedo doesn't move=busted diff/trans.

 

Thanks Grumble... looked at the excellent axle replacement thread that's been popular for several years here. As just an owner, am not very familiar with Honda problems, put 150,000 more miles on my DX and now have 250,000 miles with nary a hint of problems.

Measured the separation between trans and CV hub on both sides and found left side is .053" more than right side. Left is .78" and right is .727" as close as I can measure. I am guessing both sides popped out. The difference is about the width of a clip so I will assume the left side has popped out and do it first to verify. Can someone estimate the normal separation?

The boots look good and the axles look rusty so I suspect they are aftermarket. The guy I bought it from said he had trans problems brought on by habitually coasting coming off the mountain to save gas.

Should I buy a new clip or just spread it a little and reinsert it. I had no axle noise before this happened.

You guys are tops!

 

Normally the inner joint will be up tight against the seal. You don't normally need new clips, just shove the axles back in until they're seated.

 

Thanks 94EG8! Step 15 in the axle replacement thread does say "Make SURE that the inner joint is all the way in and butted up against the tranny casing fully." Since both mine have about 3/4" space I guess they are both popped!

Now I am hoping it is possible to reseat the inner joints by just removing the wheel nut and tapping/rotating the outer end of the axle. Will try tomorrow.

 

The passenger's side axle you can reseat with a length of 2x4, pipe etc. Going from the top of the car put one end up against the inner joint and using the shock tower as a fulcrum give the 2x4 a sharp snap and it should go in (have used this method on the side of the road before) Unfortunately this wont work for the driver's side.

 

Thanks 94EG8...I tried your procedure but it did not work for me. But see why below. After desperately trying (and failing) to jury rig a fulcrum using some heavy metal with the front wheels holding it down, I decided to try to hammer the axles on.

I removed the left wheel bolt using a 1 1/4" socket and a 3' cheater bar with emergency brake set. That just barely worked, skidding the tire on solid concrete! I unthreaded the nut about 1/4" and placed a 15/16" socket on a 3/4" extension using the lip of the nut to center it and tapped it with a 2 lb sledge. The axle had been replaced fairly recently so it popped loose easily. Then I removed the nut and used a socket extension as a punch to drive the left axle on. It took just a few light blows to move the axle so it was slightly recessed in the hub. At that point I saw very little space between the inner joint and transaxle. Going under the car I was able to jerk the axle back out enough to catch the threads with the wheel nut. I put the wheel nut on and torqed it so the original crimp aligned with the key way on the axle. The inner joint stayed in place!

Using the same procedure on the right side did not work right away so I tried a 10 lb sledge with my wife holding a 3/4" socket extension in place with a 15/16" box end wrench over it as a handle. After several strong blows I started to worry about breaking something. So I decided to jack up the wheel with a floor jack, put the car in gear and rotate the wheel while tapping with the big sledge. The axle seated almost immediately. Apparently the splines had not been aligned. If they had been aligned the 2x4 trick by 94EG8 would have worked!

So thanks to this fantastic forum my Civic can now roll!

Thanks everyone!

 

You should post this tip in the DIY axle thread.