Well... Last night we came home and parked the car in front of the house. Prior to that there were no odd sounds and we definitely weren't beating on it. When I moved the car about 50 feet, I started hearing a clunking sound. At first I thought I ran over a nail and a tire went flat.

This morning I inspected and all the tires are good. I backed up the car 20 feet and didn't hear anything. I drove it forward at about 3-5 mph and heard the sound. When we did it a second time, same deal. No sound backing up. Going forward there was a bad metal breaking thud. It got progressively louder as I pulled back into the spot.

Well, the car is going to sit until I can get it flat bedded to the shop. The sound is definitely coming from the back of the car. The engine is running fine and there aren't any obvious things bumping such as the exhaust... What do you guys think? If I had to guess it sounds serious like rear end gears or axle but who knows...

 

Sorry for this mystery issue to pop up during the holiday. May be rear-end. Damaged differential components may have settled after parking her? Hoping all is well.

 

recently I had a similar noise, and it turned out to be the input shaft dust cover on the diff.

I hope that helps.

 

hell yeah, that helps alot! So what exactly happened in your case? How did you fix it. I"m not afraid to get the car in the air and screw with it if it's an easy fix. If not, I'll have it flat bedded to the shop.

Give me a ring do discuss if you'd like. I'm out west so I'll be up for quite a while- 714-404-8410

 

Anyone have the link to the repair manual for this car? I had it on my desk top but that crashed a while back. I'll need to get more info on the dust shield.

Thanks!

 

Shoot, a dust shield would be a ton better than a diff. Hope it all pans out in your favor.

 

Thanks for that but I can't find any dust cover anywhere??
Here is the rear diff.
.
.
.

 

I'm going to see if I can get under the car after work. I'll let you know what I'm able to find...

 

Alright guys. Here is an update. The car definitely not drivable. When in drive or reverse the car doesn't move. I got it towed to the shop but they're not going to get it until Tuesday.

Shortly after loading the car on the flatbed, I found a really good sized bolt on the ground. It was totally sheared off at the threads. The flatbed didn't drive over the spot so I'm thinking it's doubtful it fell off the truck. I'm not sure what this would be off of, due to the size, but who knows. The head of it looked to be at least 3/4" and the shaft that sheered off looked to be at least 3/8 or 1/2". The length before the part that sheered off was at least 2 1/2". Anyone have any ideas?

 

Btw, the bolt looked more like 7 or 8 rather than 14.

 

I bet the rear of driveshaft coupling sheared off or bolts took off?

 

Maybe a bolt from the side of the trans. where the shifter cable goes in? They're known for working loose, rather than shearing, though. Any chance of more accurate dimensions?

 

Bolt from where the trans shifter cable? I don't know. This one i saw was pretty hefty. In addition, the car would go into gear fine, it just wouldn't move. It seems like it's a diff or axle. When I put the car in drive, it won't even move on it's own. It's like the car is loading agianst the rear, whether in reverse or drive.


btw, this sucks and will probably cost me a fortune!

 

Hi guys. So here's an update. I called the shop and they said that there are 6 bolts somewhere in the driveline (it seemed like on the drive shaft assembly) that hold things in place.

Well, on my car we were down to 3 bolts before I sheared off the 4th bolt that I found when the flat bed picked me up. They said it's not too bad to replace, but they're waiting for the bolts from the jag dealer.

The shop said that the car that worked on my car a while back for my accident didn't tighten them enough. They said that they've never seen this happen before. He also said I was about 20 miles away from this getting really expensive or dangerous.

I called the body shop and they're headed to the repair shop in the morning. I'm curious to see how this one pans out. I got the car out of the body shop in June.

 

As an update it was caused by re-used lock nuts on the driveshaft. How lame to not just replace the nuts with new ones since they're $2-$3 each... That problem is now solved and fixed by the idiots at the body shop.

 

Well that was a stupid mistake but at least it was an easy fix.
Could have been much worse if the shaft had got free!

 

Always glad to read about fixes that turn out to cost just pocket change, especially when some ill-informed or careless moron was responsible for the issue in the first place. This one could have turned into a hugely expensive disaster. Good to hear that you're confident it has been resolved, but I would never trust that body shop again....

 

Yeah, the shop said I was really close to a $10k accident if not fatal if I was in the freeway. If the drive shaft got loose it could have taken out the rear end and seriously damaged the car or potentially shot into the car like a pole vault. Neither would have been good.