Honda Civic won't move, knocking noise under throttle

Scarfacé · 3 Aug 2015 at 20:23

Have you got a garage, jack, jack stands and a socket set?

If you've got spare time then this is a relatively easy job to do. The fact that you've managed to get the car jacked up and diagnose the problem makes me think you would be able to get it done. It may just take you a lot longer compard to a garage... I guess it depends how much you value your time.

Scarfacé · 3 Aug 2015 at 20:35

P.S. I think the only "special" tool you would need is a ball joint removal tool but these are pretty cheap. I have the service manual for the EP3 civic which tells you how to remove and reinstall the drive shafts if you decide to DIY. You'd need to drain the transmission fluid before removing the drive shaft and obviously fill it back up after installing the new drive shaft. It looks like it's a relatively short drive shaft too which makes the job easier.

Oh, and a big breaker bar for the hub nut... and a torque wrench. Ok, maybe it is worth taking it to a garage...

wazza300 · 3 Aug 2015 at 20:45

what do they make those driveshafts out of? cheese? never seen one snap like that on a relatively newish car

must have been spinning the wheels up

rodenal · 3 Aug 2015 at 20:53

You don't need to drain the transmission at all - or at least I have never had to on any other car

geekman · 3 Aug 2015 at 21:07

wazza300 said:
what do they make those driveshafts out of? cheese? never seen one snap like that on a relatively newish car

must have been spinning the wheels up

Trust me, this car has never had its wheels spun in its life, I'd be surprised if it's ever been taken above 30MPH

I found a guy online who will come on Thursday and fit it for £80 so I've decided to go for that, as I've got a huge amount of work this month and I suspect that even if I could do it, it'd take me quite a while. Overall, that'll mean I've paid £110 for the car, so I should be able to make a decent profit out of it.

Lopéz · 3 Aug 2015 at 21:13

wazza300 said:
what do they make those driveshafts out of? cheese? never seen one snap like that on a relatively newish car

must have been spinning the wheels up

Driveshafts can snap quite easily in the "right" circumstances. My mum snapped one on her old Civic years ago and she never drives at more than 1/3 throttle.

Scarfacé · 3 Aug 2015 at 21:19

rodenal said:
You don't need to drain the transmission at all - or at least I have never had to on any other car

It doesn't say you have to in the service manual for the civic. I was speaking from experience but I've only removed a couple of drive shafts. For example, I replaced a drive shaft on a Mini Cooper a couple of months ago and I had to. When I pulled the drive shaft, the transmission oil poured out of the gearbox...

Maybe it depends on the car?

EDIT - thinking about it more... if the drive shaft is the splined type which push fits into the gearbox then you have to drain it. When I worked on an old polo the drive shaft was bolted to a plate on the gearbox with 6 allen bolts so you wouldn't have to...

Lopéz · 3 Aug 2015 at 21:23

If you jack the car at an angle and do it quickly, you'll lose little to no fluid. I lost a capful when I changed the one on my 205.

adam cool dude · 3 Aug 2015 at 21:23

Got a great deal there. Give it a good valet and you will easily see £500 profit!

Lopéz said:
If you jack the car at an angle and do it quickly, you'll lose little to no fluid. I lost a capful when I changed the one on my 205.

Same when I did a drive shaft on my Primera GT. Well I had to take the shaft out to get the C.V in the vice as it wouldn't come off! I would say the hardest part of doing a drive shaft swap is getting the gearbox fill and drain plugs undone!

Orionaut · 3 Aug 2015 at 23:13

adam cool dude said:
I would say the hardest part of doing a drive shaft swap is getting the gearbox fill and drain plugs undone!

Always ensure you can undo the fill plug before undoing the drain one!

Dogbreath · 4 Aug 2015 at 08:10

wazza300 said:
what do they make those driveshafts out of? cheese? never seen one snap like that on a relatively newish car

must have been spinning the wheels up

As someone else already said, it a pretty common problem. The driveshaft probably had a rubber damper in the middle which has now fallen off. This traps water underneath it, and the resulting corrosion causes a weak spot in the driveshaft.

Outcast · 4 Aug 2015 at 11:42

Might have trouble pulling the transmission side out as you don't have enough bar left to get a good jerk on it !

There's kind of a compression circlip on the transmission end that "clicks" into the tranny.

Dogbreath · 4 Aug 2015 at 15:13

Outcast said:
Might have trouble pulling the transmission side out as you don't have enough bar left to get a good jerk on it !

There's kind of a compression circlip on the transmission end that "clicks" into the tranny.

You don't remove an inner CV from the diff by yanking on the driveshaft, that's likely to end up with a CV joint in two parts and a ripped boot.

A prybar between the CV joint and the transmission casing will get the CV out quickly and easily.

wazza300 · 4 Aug 2015 at 20:37

Dogbreath said:
As someone else already said, it a pretty common problem. The driveshaft probably had a rubber damper in the middle which has now fallen off. This traps water underneath it, and the resulting corrosion causes a weak spot in the driveshaft.

I know I saw that,still poor though,

geekman · 6 Aug 2015 at 12:38

It lives!

Fair to say the old driveshaft was past it's best.

Gave it a quick clean and it now looks vaguely respectable:

Annoyingly, since towing it, the ABS light has come on. I tried clearing the codes but it's come back on since. Not sure if maybe the broken bit of driveshaft constantly hitting stuff has damaged the sensor, but either way, probably not going to bother sorting it out as I'd imagine people would expect stuff like this on a £500 car anyway.