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Snapped my drive shaft last night

Stevearcade

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Location
Eastbourne
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2003 Accord CM2
Working late in Brighton, attending a student organised gig. Leave at 10:45pm after a successful gig. Pull out onto the roundabout in front of the pier and BANG! Lost all drive in the middle of the roundabout. Thankfully a cruise of modified Golfs was going past and they came to my rescue. They grid locked the roundabout to block the other cars (it's a small but very busy roundabout and a rather dangerous place to break down) and helped me push the car off the roundabout and into a lay-by. A good bit of modified car owner solidarity :) .

IMAG0342_zpslhly7bst.jpg


Anyway, my first thought was the clutch, but the recovery man reckoned it was drive shaft as there was a periodic clunking like something was spinning and occasionally catching on something else. This was spot on. Had it dropped at the garage last night and this morning they phoned me to tell me the shorter drive shaft had clean snapped. I think that's the off side shaft. Said it was rotten through, so it must have been pretty rusty and bad :wacko: .

Parts and labour is just over £200. Don't get the car back till tomorrow as they can't get the part today which means I'm relying on public transport for today and tomorrow, but I'm just glad it's just that and nothing more sinister. Will hopefully be back on the road by Wednesday evening.
 
I know, I saw the other thread when it happened and that was the first thing I thought of. I'll see what I can do regards a photo. The car's at the garage but they're not working on it till tomorrow, so I'll give them a call.
 
I know those parts take quite a bit of stress but to snap clean is a bit of a shock :blink: .
 
Sorry to hear this steve. Glad the vw dudes helped. They usually hate on Honda's. lol.

What replacement shafts are you getting? Blueprint?
 
Just spoke to the garage. The blueprint part they were sent isn't the right size! So it's another day without the part while they source another one. If that's wrong as well then I'm going to have to go OEM which is significantly more expensive!!!

Asked about the corrosion. He said it's common in that there's a rubber bit on the outside and it corrodes under the rubber. He said Nissan Primeras were really bad for it. They corrode under the rubber and then snap.
 
Car's fixed... Phew! Unfortunately I'm working till 7pm tonight, so can't pick it up until the morning. Will get the broken shaft back and post a picture of it, so we can see the offending article. Can't wait to get back on the road man. An hour and ten minute bus rid, followed by a twenty minute walk up a monstrous hill is not a great way to start your working day, especially when you've then got to spend 7 hours jollying along apathetic teenage musicians to do course work. I'm totally drained. I find an hour's drive with a Costa coffee, heated leather seats and radio 4 a much more civilised way to start your working day :D .
 
Glad to see you back on the road what mileage is car at ? So we can keep an eye on it

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Thanks Saj. The car's just about to hit 107K. Modified intake, ECU and exhaust. Lots of heavy footed town driving and I live on the coast, so you can throw salty sea air into the equation too for good measure.
 
Steve, you don't know how lucky you are :) Snapped driveshaft or CV joint can cause such a big mess and damage to other parts, I've personally experienced this on track at high speed, and stopping without crashing was unbelievably hard.
You can see what a snapped CV joint looks like at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd5IcN3yjsg

which is almost the same as snapped shaft.

offtopic: have you fitted rear camber kit to reduce tyre wear after lowering the car?
 
Wow! I don't know exactly where the break is yet, will find out tomorrow when I see the broken shaft. I've not fitted a camber kit, no. There's no after market option for the tourer. Would have to have specially made! But I've been running lowered springs for three years or more. While I have slight camber at the rears as a result, I've never had any real uneven wear issues before. I'll be interested to see what the deal is when I get the car back tomorrow morning.
 
So here's the first picture:

IMAG0344%20copy_zps5tyvcvhk.jpg


The part circled is where the old corrosion is. You can clearly see the dark patch where the corrosion is eaten into the drive shaft for a long period of time.

Here's the same part from a different angle:

IMAG0345%20copy_zps3aaqw0fv.jpg


And finally, the pieces lined up at the break point:

IMAG0346%20copy_zpsvp196o0e.jpg


What you're seeing here is where corrosion has set in in a big way underneath where the counter weight would sit. As this shaft is a different length to the one on the other side, they mount a counterweight in the middle so that weight and loads are even. Rubber seals are fitted around the counterweight, but if the rubber corrodes and moisture gets in, it can get trapped and rot the metal. You then put drive through that and eventually it will break as it's not as solid as it once was. You can see just how thin it had worn. It's amazing it held on as long as it did.

The Mechanic said that lowering the car puts the drive shafts under slight strain as they sit at a different angle than intended. He said it's unlikely a remap on an NA engine like this would contribute to the matter. His attitude was that it's a clear cut case of rot. Says he sees it all the time on Rovers and Nissans.

Hey ho, I had some new front discs, pads and polybush compliance bushes in the boot that I was going to get fitted later this month, so I had them fitted at the same time. The car feels great. The brakes are still bedding in but it's not tram-lining like it was with the worn out compliance bushes and there was no vibration in the steering wheel today either. How about that... :lol:
 
Good result Steve and glad your sorted
 
Cheers guys. I know, it's proper mental. Also, what I thought was my clutch release bearing, the weird chirping sound. Seems to have gone... I wonder if it was some how related to my drive shaft. But I'll give it a few days before I can say for certain. It is an intermittent issue, although it normally happens every day at some point and it didn't happen today at all.
 
Thanks Steve I'm on 109k no noises so far hope driveshaft holds up am in london so loads of start stop and heavy foot driving as well, glad to see all sorted and back on road

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What white stuff?
 
freddofrog said:
Ectoplasm from a ghostly haunting from 18 months ago
:lol: Give it up Brian. You can clearly see it's rotten as anything. Remap or no remap, this drive shaft was grot and was going to snap. I could have driven like a real grandma and it would have failed. I highly doubt the moisture ingress under a failed seal that's caused this rot and fatigue was part of Honda's plan when they engineer in tolerances for wear over time in the stock map ;) .

edgeoftime said:
The inside of the hollow looking shaft, or is that clean metal?
I think it's just the way the light's catching on the sparkly internals of the fresh break.
 
freddofrog said:
did someone mention moisture ingress .....


1356017276_12-640x426.jpg
[emoji33]

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Well, I guess I will be checking my shafts tomorrow, since the rubbers on the counterweights are missing...
 
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