What happened to my car?
Posted by barredrockgirl@reddit | askcarguys | View on Reddit | 6 comments
Hi all,
I was just pulling out of the driveway and suddenly heard/felt grinding near the front of my car, something popped off of it, and now my car won’t drive or reverse and rolls back when in park. I can’t attach a photo of what fell off but it’s a rubber circular thing about the size of the palm of my hand. I drive a 2009 Honda Civic hybrid. Unfortunately I had to just grab my mom’s car and leave right away because I was on my way to respond to an emergency and really didn’t have time to stop and look at my car. Based off of this vague description, does anyone have a guess of what the issue might be? I can provide more info when I get home but it won’t be until later tonight probably.
Thanks 😬
No_Base4946@reddit
Rubber thing about the size of your hand with a bit of spikey metal in the middle that's clearly snapped off something?
Everyone else in the thread is right about the axle having snapped. Water gets under the rubbery bit and a tiny corrosion pit turns into a crack, that gets flexed and flexed and flexed.
Given how dramatic it all is, it's surprisingly easy to repair. Big nut off the middle of the hub (lots of force required, big nut off the bottom of the suspension strut and knock the wishbone away, then take both broken pieces out, put in a new one, and bolt it all back up again.
If you take it to a garage, you'll give someone a nice easy afternoon.
Lort_Voldelort@reddit
Axle broke
SailingSpark@reddit
If that is the case, especially with that u/Equana says about them rusting under that donut, then it should be a cheap fix, not much more than replacing an axle to do CV joints. Thankfully it appears to have not happened at speed.
J-Rag-@reddit
That's what i was thinking till OP said rubber and the size of their palm. Then I thought ball joint but that doesn't match up to the other stuff
Equana@reddit
Some Hondas have a rubber vibration donut about halfway along one axle. The axles tend to rust apart under that donut.
J-Rag-@reddit
Ah okay I gotcha.