I rescently bought a swapped 97 civic with a h22 and I believe a m2a4 tranny. I knew at the time that it had transmisions problems and the price was set accordingly. The owner said sometimes it would go into gear but not really. I did not understand what he meant but I planned on finding out. Sure enough that night I was doin some small launches and she broke on me. I could put it into gear fine but something was spinning and grinding in the tranny and the axles were not moving.

So I pulled the tranny tonight and opened up the case. I found a descent amount of shavings inside the case but everything looks fine. I have yet to take all the internals out and inspect further into the differencial tho. I was a little suprised that I couldnt see dmg from the sound the car made when it broke. I am very very new to car repairs and am looking for a bit of advice. From the info that I provided can anyone come up with some ideas on the issue? What other info can I provide to help with diagnosing the issue? Thank you for your time and any help would be much appriciated.

TLDR: tranny broke, goes into gear but something was spinning inside, pulled transmission, metal shavings inside but no noticable dmg, any ideas?

 

I would love some help with this...if u need pictures more info I can provide anything that would get the ball rolling on this.

I finished up tearin the tranny apart ... a few gear were slightly worn but nothing I would think near the point of failure... the differencial made a bit of noise as well but still seemed to spin well and grip correctly. I thought perhaps the person that did the swap used the wrong axles but from the pictures I dont believe that is an issue. Basically I have hit a wall and unless I get a good idea from a 3rd party I am completely lost.

 

Look at the spider gears in the differential and at the splines where the axle connects.

 

I am no mechanic so I am terrible on the correct terms. Figured a picture might help


the part that I have circled is extremely eaten up on the passanger axle. The gears seems fine inside the differencial it makes a bit of noise but spins fine. I am quite the amatuer when it comes to this stuff so I could easily be overlooking something so if you can suggest what ill be looking for that may be helpful. From the noise and way it broke I assumed it would be fairly obvious but that does not seem to be the case.

 

The picture shows the inner CV joint splines. These splines lock into the differential gear splines. I would change the differential and the passanger side axle. Go with a Limited slip differential (LSD) if you can afford one.