Is a real loud thunk, followed by a lot of oil a bad thing??

[markmdz89hatch]

FUUUUCCCCCCKKKK!!!!!!!

So it's about 1AM, and I'm going out to get in my car and head home from my step-bro's house. Start her up, let her sit for about 5 min. so she can warm up nicely, then go to take off.

TTHHHHUUUUUNNNNNKKKKK!!!!!!!

Nothing, not even so much as a thought of moving.
I'm like WTF was that! I figure maybe the clutch cable snapped. Grab the flashlight, pop the hood and look around. Nope, that's still good. I look under the car, and there's a steady stream of oil flowing from under there somewhere. For the love of everything holy, what the FUCK is that!?! So, I very calmly opened the door back up, tossed the flashlight back in, locked up, closed the hood, and went inside, where I'm spending the night b/c that pile of shit parked out on the road just fucking blew up on me.

I think it was the tranny b/c the car was still running mint, just wouldn't move a muscle.

[Jareds 89 LX-i]

Sounds like your inner CV may have popped out some (or all the way).

Didn't you just change the tranny to a 5 speed?

[markmdz89hatch]

umm. actually this is on the new addition. (88 dx) but yeah, that's exactly what happened. I take it this is something you've seen before? What does this mean exactly? Should I just take it off again, and re-seat the axle, or am I royally screwed in this situation.

[shepherd79]

where was the oil flowing? which side?

[mike_fx_u]

when i threw a rod it went through the oil pan and caused all the oil to drain out

good luck
Mike

[jteuton]

what weight oil did you put in the 5spd? You could have blew an oil seal on the tranny.....it could have not seated right (the axles against the differential).....check your oil seals there. Check your engine oil and make sure its full so you know its oil from the tranny......then you will have to fill the tranny back up and watch were it seeps out. Bets are its the axle oil seal.

[markmdz89hatch]

ok, sorry for not replying earlier

This morning when I woke up, i went out to take a look and assess the damages. Here's the deal...

...The oil was coming out the tranny where the axle seats in. What apparently happened is the axle popped out of the tranny about 1.5". It was the axle on the drivers side (the long axle). I took apart the whole drivers side, and re-seated the axle, put everything back together, filled the tranny back up, and took it for a spin. So far (fingers crossed) everything looks fine.

One extremely important question still remains unanswered. Why did it do this in the first place? If it happened once, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before it happens again. So how do i fix this once and for all?

[Jareds 89 LX-i]

Do you know if the axle was recently replaced or not (or just taken out for any reason, really)? Someone could have not put it back in all the way (not locked the snapring in the diff) and it worked it's way out. Did you have the wheels turned to the left or right when it popped out?

[markmdz89hatch]

Originally posted by Jareds 89 LX-i
Do you know if the axle was recently replaced or not (or just taken out for any reason, really)? Someone could have not put it back in all the way (not locked the snapring in the diff) and it worked it's way out. Did you have the wheels turned to the left or right when it popped out?

Yeah, I just replaced both the axles on Sunday. Everything looked and felt OK. Snaprings appeared/felt to have popped in. I actutally put about 150 mi. on the car between sun night and mon. The car was parked out on the street with the front end facing uphill on a fair incline. Wheels turned ever-so-slightly to the right (pulling away from the curb.). Letting off the clutch..little gas.... POW followed soon after by WTF.

Thanks to ALL you guys that've helped me out on this problem today. I really appreciate all the help.

[Greg]

I'm guessing that the cir-clip on the end of the axle didn't quite lock into the differential the way it's supposed to. I was putting axles back in an old Nissan Sentra once (after changing the clutch), and the cir-clips were all distorted and simply didn't want to seat properly. I finally had to take one of them off the axle, replace it with a better used cir-clip from another Nissan axle (which I had to bend to get it back to normal shape before I put it on the axle), and then I knocked the axle into the diff.

I'm not sure how everyone else does this, but I usually line up the splines on the end of the axle with the differential so I feel them engaged, and then I give it a good knock with my short 3lb hammer. When I think it went in all the way and the cir-clip locked, I usually pull back and forth a little bit to make sure it feels like the cir-clip locked in.

But maybe whatever the cir-clip locks into in the differential gear (I don't really know what the thing is called) is kinda chewed and the thing doesn't want to lock in???

I've never rebuilt a differential. Maybe someone else has better advice.

[jteuton]

Sounds like it just didn't seat good. You should hear a good click when they go back in. As far as the axle coming out ....it doesn't have the ablility to back all the way out (cv and spindle doesn't allow enough flex even with the wheels cut very hard) so the worse that could happen is for it too back out an inch like you said and let the oil flow out. The real damage would come from driving it this way. You didn't so there was no damage done to it. You said it did have the lock ring on their and it did snap in place the first time so I don't have a clue how it would come out unless you have some kind of fault with the locking mechanism.

[markmdz89hatch]

That's what I'm thinking jteuton. I mean about the bad snapring. After putting it all back together, and taking it for a test run, everything seemed to be back in good working order. Last night, just as the night previous, I started her up, let her warm up a bit, but this time I got out to look under for any suprises, and yep, there it was again, pissing right out of the spot the axle seats into in the tranny. I was able to drive the car enough to get it off the road and into the driveway, but didnt' want to take my chances on movinig it further.

I talked to my step-father who is a diesel mechanic, and he mentioned that b/c of the axle popping out the first time, I may have royally screwed the seal, which could be the cause of the leak now. Like I said, this time the axle seems to have stayed put, but it's still leaking like a civ.

Any ideas guys? Do you think it could be the seal? Or do you think it may be an internal/tranny thing? I need to look at this problem with my eyes wide open.

[socal3rdgen]

it probably messed it up when it popped out. it wouldnt hurt to replace your seals.

[jteuton]

Ok. We can handle this. When it leaks....do you notice if the axle is popped out at all. You need to narrow it down between the seal and the snapring. If it is popping out then chances are your seal is good but its not seating....on the other hand if the axle is staying locked into place and it still leaks its the seal. With it 'pissing' you would have to have a really 'fucked' seal ripped wide open or it seems more logical the axle isn't locking correctly. The snapring and seals are pretty cheap anyways so when you pull the balljoint/spindle up and out of the lower arm and remove the axle just replace both of them and you'll know that you got the bastard. I know after I redid my entire engine (nitrous, fuel lines, oil pressure lines, and the tranny). I cranked it (the first time in months) and the first thing I did was hop right out and look under the car. It has become a habit cause something will always spring a leak when its been sitting dorment for so long.

[markmdz89hatch]

Ok, Update on the friggin p.o.s. Just called up the Honda dealer and ordered the new seals, both left and right. ...Stopping by tonight after work to pick them up. I'll put them in this weekend. I mentioned my problem to the guy, and the first thing he said was "they gave you an automatic axle"... Dun-Dan-Daaaahhh.... He mentioned that the only diff. betweeen the auto and the manual axle is about 3/4 of and inch. (The auto is the shorter one.) He suggested to bring it back and exchange it for another one. So, that's what I'll do tomorrow night after work. All this work with the hopes of being able to get under the car Fri. night, and finish up Sat. morning bright and early.

If there is anything else that you guys would suggest replacing/inpecting while it's all apart, now's the time to throw something at me.

Thanks again guys for all your help on this. This morning I was this (| |) close to bringing it down to the local garage and telling him it was his problem now, and to fix it, and leave me a bill. But now I've decided I'm gonna lick this bitch once and for all, without handing it over to the garage.

[jteuton]

Well I'll be damn. You didn't tell me you didn't have the right axles. The Manual axle has a different lip and seats different on the manual differential. I don't even know how you got the auto one not to leak at all. I actually measured mine and could'nt tell a noticeable difference in the length of the axle but you sure can tell a difference where it mates to the differential

[markmdz89hatch]

no no no, I'm not saying that it is the wrong axle. I mean, I went to Autozone, and told them what i needed. I even damn near jumped over the counter and cracked the dude b/c he asked me about 15 times if it was stick or auto. Everytime I answered "stick". At this point I kinda hope it's a auto axle so i can finally have an answer to this lerking question.

...but get this, after mentioning my troubles to the guy at honda, and saying that I've never heard of or seen an axle that's popped out of the tranny. His response "yeah that does happen from time to time, even with the newer ones too" WTF is that. Someone kick him, and the engineer right in the teeth.

[jteuton]

Thats their programmed response. They always say that to comfort you. This isn't fucking normal and isn't suppose to ever happen. Why didn't you ask him if it was normal for people to bitch slap him after such thoughtless remarks?

[86lxifixage]

Just something to watch out for.. I had a somewhat similar problem. My front motor mount was blown, and the engine torqued up, ripped the inner boot, bearings went flying, the now-jagged edge of the axle started clunking around and busted....no...ripped a huge ass hole in my oil pan. Talk about luck. At any rate 'pissing isn't quite the word for what my oil was doing..Give me some time to think of a more extreme one..
Good luck.
-Aaron

[NXRacer]

another ancient thread rises from the grave. . . . . .