bmxkills

iTrader: (2)

Alright, I still never got my problem fixed, because I haven't bothered with working on it until there is Spring weather. I have a GSR tranny that has been replaced once already, which this drove extremely smoothly, no grinds or noises. There was a slight leak out of the driver's side axle seal. We temporarily fixed it until my new seal would arrive, and when I left the garage that night, my speedo would only work when I let off the gas or downshifted. If my foot was on the gas, there was no speedo. I threw code 17 (VSS). I drove to work and my girlfriends house while I waited 3 days for Honda to receive my replacement seal. As I get to the dealer, my car starts clunking from the transmission/axle going around a U-turn. I knew it wasn't a good noise, so I got the seal, and ventured home. The noise continued, but only when pulling out and turning. I got home, put the car on jackstands, and inspect the damage (didn't rip anything apart), and I see nothing, just that my axle seal was torn to shreds. There was MTF that leaked (of course), and it looked like a bit of grease from the seal, but nothing major. There was no play in the axles or anything, however, when I twisted the driver's axle back and forth, it sound like marbles from the tranny, or the inner CV. The wheel seemed to bind up a bit when I spun it, so my buddy assumed a bad diff. I'm calling bad axle, or something like that, because the tranny was sooooo smooth, and then out of nowhere, this. Also, axles and tranny are new. Shaft problem?

Update. I drove the car to my buddy's garage, 1 mile away. The car drove and shifted fine, minus the clunking during pulling out/turning. I jacked it up, checked everything out, and there was NO diff play whatsoever, just my axle seal was completely blown out, and the intermediate shaft was bolted in crooked (loose bolts). Seeing this, I assumed that this MUST be the problem. My axles were kind of rough to spin, but not terrible, however, the drivers side had a bit more play. I also assumed possibly a bad inner CV. So I ripped everything out, my axle is visibly fine, and has no clunks, play, or anything out of the ordinary. My output shaft seal is in perfect now, OEM honda, intermediate shaft is in perfect now, along with the axle. I put everything back up in, double checked,everything was fine, so I put in the Honda MTF. I spun my wheels, the driver's side spun perfect, and the passenger seemed to catch a bit, but still spun, which didn't happen before. I hoped for the best, went to back out, and reverse was smooth as butter. I put it in first, went to pull out, and nothing. It will not grab any gear for the life of it, only reverse. I immediately dreaded the thought of my diff We pushed my car back into the garage, jacked it up, and I ran through the gears on jackstands. The car hesitates when releasing the clutch, then is fine, however, i can hold the driver's side wheel still for 2500rpms. Both the axle, and intermediate shaft are still, however, the passenger side spins fine. I kept running through gears, and in third, there was a clunk a few times, then began to whine, and continued to whine in fourth and fifth. I'm pretty positive the diff bearing is toast . Confirmation?


What the blown seal looked like


After my diff blew today, my tranny fluid (more metal chunks than in picture)


Driver's side diff pic, see it sheared


Another pic

Short Version:
Leaky driver's side axle seal, intermittent VSS, cel 17 VSS, clunking when accelerating/turning. Car will no longer remove unless in reverse, third gear through fifth whines, with an occasional clunk in first and third gear, I can stop the driver's side wheel with my hands until 2500rpm while the passenger side spins freely.

bmxkills

iTrader: (2)

Also, the day after my tranny started leaking, my speedo stopped working, VTEC wouldn't cross, and my car threw code 17 (VSS). I have launch control, so I can only rev to 5k. Something has to be related haha, because there is no way all issues happened coincidentally in 2 days. I'm thinking something with an axle popping out and not reading or something, or damage to the VSS because of something?

Nylez

I had a similar problem and it was that my Differential wasn't shimmed correctly in the gearbox. Causing it to wobble, which in return caused my axle to sometimes pop out and also the VSS to sometimes not "catch" on the ring attached to the diff-unit.

VTEC will not cross over when the car is not above a certain speed, i thought it was 30km/h. So if your speedo is not working, you have a VSS code, your VTEC will not cross over (normal behaviour).

Wrt the clunking noise... it could be the differential wobbling and also pulling on the axle which will hit the tranny-housing at the same time since it is locked with a ring. This can also explain why your seal is torn to shreds.

I agree with your buddy assumption: bad diff or bad diff shimming.

Take out the axle when the engine/gearbox cooled down and see if you can move the diff-gears back and forth (horizontal).

bmxkills

iTrader: (2)

Yeah, the diff seems to be a possible cause, because another symptom of bad diff is the leaky axle seal. But the only reason I'm still not 100% on the diff, is because it was probably the smoothest tranny I've ever driven, and there were no problems, until one day. Also, there is no whining noise, or any other noise. The tranny drives fine, it just clunks around while I'm pulling out, or turning, no noise in neutral either. I'm wondering if there's something with the halfshaft assembly or something, and there was damage to the seal when installing. Plus, the seal didn't look seated correctly to begin with, which is why I think it fell off and whatnot. But I'll take stuff apart in a month or so... Thanks for the input!

EDWINV00SI

i have a similar issue on my tranny as well i have an lsd tranny in my em1. driver side axel is also beat up im thinking its just the axel but im hearing a scraping/squeek noise after 3rd gear. is it my tranny? only had the car for about a month but did stall a few times new learner lol shaft/counter bearing problem maybe?

TwotoneC1Da9

hit any bad potholes lately?

EDWINV00SI

op? if not no i have not hit any pot holes i hardly drive it but i bought my em1 with a bad axel.

TwotoneC1Da9

That was to the op only because of the noise around turns but if i were both of you start at least by replacing the seals/ any suspicious axles. As for the noise after 3rd I would only worry about it if there were any grinds or hard spots in the shifter..

EDWINV00SI

what seals do you recommend to replace? (im a noob when it comes to trannys) lol but yeah both axels are going to be replaced soon. no grinds or hard spots just a scraping & squeek noise.

bmxkills

iTrader: (2)

No, no pot holes, I baby my cars, didn't beat on it, anything out of the ordinary. Just casual driving for 20 miles to the dealership to get my seal, and then I hear clunks. I got the axle seal, and will put it in about a month or so, but I can't see that affecting anything as of now. The axles and seals were just replaced for regular maintenence, so there has to be something causing this, whether it wasn't put in correctly to begin with... Also, I only hear popping when turning or pulling out, but there is no squeeking or anything, or any other noises. I have an open diff.

TwotoneC1Da9

Axle seals. Do them when you do the axles and as for the squeaking spray the joints on your shift linkage with pb blaster, inspect for cracked bushings too. It would probably help to have someone in the car shifting it from 3rd to 4th while your underneath to locate the noise.

OP-Where did you get your axles? Did you torque everything to spec? torque specs have to be precise when it comes to axles. If all of that checks out pull the axles back out and feel around the spider gears for any lateral movement/chunks of loose parts.

EDWINV00SI

thanks for your advice bro i will be using it

bmxkills

iTrader: (2)

To be honest, I forget the name of company I got the axles from, they are lifetime warranty, and it's a big name, it's just not coming to me now. I got everything off my buddy, who torqued everything down to spec (unless something stupid was overlooked, but I completely doubt it), and that is why I forget the name of the company lol. When I pull the axle out to put the seal in, I was gunna look for some sort of damage to the spider gears and stuff, but I'm not exactly sure what to look for.

TwotoneC1Da9

An incorrectly shimmed diff would only be the case if the original diff was replaced before anything stock wouldn't have this problem. Do you know if your trans was ever opened?

bmxkills

iTrader: (2)

My tranny SHOULD not have been opened up, or parts replaced, etc, to my knowledge at least... Like I said, tranny off buddy, replaced axle seals for the normal maintenence, and axles were new, that's it.

TwotoneC1Da9

Sounds like an installation error man don't worry about the trans. Lift the car and completely cut the wheel on both ends while spinning a wheel to see if the axle pops out of place.

bmxkills

iTrader: (2)

^Thanks haha, that's my plan comes better weather.

94EG8

Clunking noise? Blown axle seal? CEL code for VSS? Sounds like blown diff bearing the diff moved a bit or a cracked diff to me.

bmxkills

iTrader: (2)

The VSS is what made me wonder. But the tranny drove fine for a few days. I can't see driving for 3-4 days on low tranny fluid blowing my bearing or diff, plus I babied it. And I have read about low tranny fluid damaging the VSS.

bmxkills

iTrader: (2)

I don't know if this helps at all, but my speedoworks with my foot off the gas. When I press the gas it goes to zero. If I floor it, it drops straight to zero, and if I slowly press the gas, it slowly goes down, but like I said, if my foot is not on the gas, the VSS reads I'm moving. For some reason, I can downshift in third, fourth, or fifth and catch VTEC in the gears afterwards with no problem...

SIvic bob.tec

sounds like a bad diff bearing to me too u need to get on looking at that man if its a bearing its gonna mess up the tranny if u keep driving on it

bmxkills

iTrader: (2)

It's been parked for the winter haha, I stopped driving it that day. That's kinda what it's sounding like. I just don't see how the bearings bad after driving it around like that fora couple days. I've had buddies beat the **** out of their trannies for months to a year with no fluid, and not a problem. And my **** still drove fine? Oh well thanks for the input!

bmxkills

iTrader: (2)

TTT

bmxkills

iTrader: (2)

Update. I drove the car to my buddy's garage, 1 mile away. The car drove and shifted fine, minus the clunking during pulling out/turning. I jacked it up, checked everything out, and there was NO diff play whatsoever, just my axle seal was completely blown out, and the intermediate shaft was bolted in crooked (loose bolts). Seeing this, I assumed that this MUST be the problem. My axles were kind of rough to spin, but not terrible, however, the drivers side had a bit more play. I also assumed possibly a bad inner CV. So I ripped everything out, my axle is visibly fine, and has no clunks, play, or anything out of the ordinary. My output shaft seal is in perfect now, OEM honda, intermediate shaft is in perfect now, along with the axle. I put everything back up in, double checked,everything was fine, so I put in the Honda MTF. I spun my wheels, the driver's side spun perfect, and the passenger seemed to catch a bit, but still spun, which didn't happen before. I hoped for the best, went to back out, and reverse was smooth as butter. I put it in first, went to pull out, and nothing. It will not grab any gear for the life of it, only reverse. I immediately dreaded the thought of my diff We pushed my car back into the garage, jacked it up, and I ran through the gears on jackstands. The car hesitates when releasing the clutch, then is fine, however, i can hold the driver's side wheel still for 2500rpms. Both the axle, and intermediate shaft are still, however, the passenger side spins fine. I kept running through gears, and in third, there was a clunk a few times, then began to whine, and continued to whine in fourth and fifth. I'm pretty positive the diff bearing is toast . Confirmation?

bmxkills

iTrader: (2)

Pics added, blown diff confirmation...