My '96 Infiniti I-30t, with manual VLSD tranny, lost all power to the wheels yesterday. The clutch had never slipped, but I originally thought either the clutch plate failed or the clutch hydraulics gave out. Towed it to the dealer and turns out the solid mount for the passenger side axle broke, allowing the passenger side axle to pull out of the transmission. For some reason, the driver's side axle also pulled out. They put the car on the lift and let me inspect the damage.

This mount is a big hunk of metal that snapped into two pieces. One side was still bolted to the engine block, and the other side was spinning free around the axle. Anyone else ever seen this? The dealer said it was the first time they had seen it. I was driving on a normal paved street at the time it happened.

The dealer has quoted me $650 to fix it, which seemed pretty reasonable. (New axle, new seal, new mount.) Anybody have any other thoughts? I did ask the dealer to give me the broken mount. Maybe I'll send it to Nissan.

The car has 130k miles. Best car I've ever owned, new or used.

 

Have them check out the tranny too. When the axle comes out, most of the tranny fluid will drain. Depending on what gear you were in, speed, etc, it could have been spinning with little or no oil for a while.

 

You can get that axle for $125 from www.raxles.com The mount is part of the axle, it just bolts to the block. The seal isn't very expensive either. You could fix all of this yourself, in your driveway, for less than $200.

 

Thanks for the advice. I did some online reading and in my Haynes manual about what would be required to do it myself. Though I have some skills, this seemed like something I would not feel comfortable doing unless I had someone more experienced to help me, or I had watched one done before.

 

raxle axles come with the bracket? Wouldn't have guessed!