Hey guys, question...

Auto tranny, open diff, no abs. A number of weeks ago I was cruisin around, slammed on the gas to hurry and just as I did, hit a bump and I snapped the driver's side axle at the tranny. Pretty crazy.

Anyways, finally got that piece out, put the new axle in and it's making this horrible noise. It sounds like somethings grinding like a piece of plastic is hitting something as you drive down the road, but I've been looked every under the car and can't find anything! It's getting extremely frustrating. The sound lines up with the speed, has nothing to do with what gear I'm in or if I'm applying the brakes or not. Can't really tell if it's coming from a particular side.

Any thoughts anyone? Please help, this is killing me.

Thanks!

 

So when you removed the pieces of the axle from the trans, you got the tip of the axle and the circlip, right?

Did you look in there to make sure there weren't any stripped or damaged splines in the diff?

 

Good question. The axle snapped clean just outside the tranny, so it was only the spline and what not left in the tranny in tact. Actually had to pull the passenger side out to push it out from the other side (advice from a Nissan tech friend). So, everything came out. Have the thing sitting here at my desk as a matter of fact.

Looking inside the diff, none of the splines look bad from what I can see.

 

bump for desperation

 

try a different axle. I had replaced 3 axles before buying one from raxles that didn't give me any problems. The reason why i knew the axle was bad was because mine was only clicking and torn boot. I put a new axle in and it was making all kinds of weird noises. i put mine back and, and none of the things that i had felt/hear with the "new" axle in was there. Happened with 2 other ones and i finally had enough, drove with the torn boot until the raxle came in.

 

So you did get the circlip, then?

 

This happened to a friend of mine several years ago. He turned and gave it a good amount of gas and the axle broke just outside the tranny. The axle was replaced and the car was fine.

Is the car auto or manual? I'm assuming its an auto. Try switching the auto into neutral while you are driving. At ~45mph or so. Make sure your foot is off the gas. And just coast. See if the noise goes away or gets significantly quieter. If the noise doesn't change, I would say it might have to do with the axle install. Maybe something is rubbing against the axle. Have you looked underneath the car to see if anything looks out of place?

 

My old axle was returned to get a new one free (lifetime warranty ftw). Even if I still had it, it's in pieces and couldn't use it again. Plus, the sound is identical between the first new axle and the second new axle.

Yep, sitting on my desk here at the office still around the piece of the axle that I pulled out.

Yes it's auto and I did this exact same test almost immediately. Did all the usual stuff.

Does the sound change with speed? Yes
Does it change with RPM? No
Does it change with brakes? No
Does it change on gear (similar to RPM question)? No

I had the exact same thought about install. I am more than willing to admit I screwed up which is why I pulled the 1st new axle, exchanged it for a new one and installed the 2nd new axle. When getting the broken piece out, I had to pull the passenger side axle as well. Haven't pulled that one out and put it back in to see if I screwed that one up. From looking at the underside of the car I can't see anything specifically problematic. I even went as far and putting the car on jack stands and putting the car in drive to see if I could find the problem that way. A little scary looking under the car in that scenario. I'm exhausted.

 

Hey man, I thought you were coming over last night so we could take a look at it? Rain scare you off?

 

Yea, didn't want to work on it in the rain and our TV got fixed, so we had a RockBand 2 session... haha

 

Ah, well then in that case I think that makes your tranny noise easier to diagnose. That noise is the sound of "what-little-life-you-have-left" rubbing against the bellhousing, subsequently allowing your "no-hope-of-having-a-girlfriend-by staying-at-home-playing-video-games" to drain back into the differential and causing the axle shafts to wobble back and forth against your "*****-is-too-small-to-make-a-difference-so-you'll-just-make-up-for-it-by-drivng-a-bandwagon-G-coupe".

Bring the Max over this weekend. We'll get it figured out.

 

LMAO! Um, the RockBand event was because of a woman... so yea... lol. It was her idea! I played another instrument later. hahaha

What ya doin tonight?

 

LOL well done

I'm not too familiar with the autos but my suggestion would be to try and put it into drive with the axle out that way you can narrow it down to a tranny problem or an axle problem

 

Yup, thats one way to check, although my concern is if there will be a sustantial fluid loss by doing that. I guess we could plug the hole somehow before starting the car with the axle out.

 

i was thinking that too, i would just hold a cloth up there or something like that. It probably wouldnt hurt the change the fluid anyway that way you can see if you have any metal shavings in there too

 

It's probably due for a change. And my baby has 4 magnets in the tranny pan (thanks SeximaGTR! haha) so the shavings shouldn't be as bad.

I thought about running it without an axle as well, but I assumed it would spew fluid like crazy.