Hey guys. Georgia resident, 29 year old father of four, rocking a '96 FWD 850 GLT with an automatic and about 200k as the only vehicle right now. Working as a contractor on a... "modest" budget has had me doing all my own automotive maintenance thus

About two months ago, it started clicking during turns. Which didn't bother me unduly, having replaced CV axles many times before. Bought a pair of new axles, but only replaced the one clicking, which was the driver's side. (Did it late one night, had a long trip to see the in-laws the next day, good at procrastinating, etc. etc.)

Fast forward to last week, had been getting an intermittent transmission indicator light, (the little "shift up" arrow, would flutter on and off after a long drive). Finally, my wife turns into the drive, and the axle I replaced pops itself out of the tranny.

Sooo.. only thing I could think to do was reseat it, make sure it engaged properly this time. While I had the car up and apart I changed the transmission fluid (Dexron III right?), and swapped the passenger side axle like I should've initially. Changed the oil. New brake pads. Bled the brakes. Drove it around the block, everything seemed copacetic. Called it a day.

That was two days ago. She drove it yesterday with no problems. This afternoon she got in, pulled out of the drive, made it to the end of the block and it did the exact same thing. A couple of guys I work with helped me push it back up the block and into the drive. I haven't jacked it up to look yet, but its behaving exactly like it did when it threw the driver's side axle.
I'll see if either or both of the axles have unseated themselves and let you guys know, but anyone have any ideas why it would be behaving thus?

Thx for the time guys.

 

Where did you get the axle?

 

If it is fully seated in the transmission it should not pop out. The large circlip on the end of the axle shaft is what holds it into the transmission. Check it on the new axle to make sure it is still there and not damaged or loose

 

(Dexron III right?)

Dexron II or III is what it came with but neither Dexron II or III are available any longer. Dexron III replaced II and a while back III was replaced by Dex/Mec. It's a better grade of fluid and backwards compatible.

This is the clip you should check to see if it's missing, bent or in any way damaged.

 

The axle came from O'Reilly's.

Hey guys, sorry for my absence, been tending to sick babies and just letting the car sit there.
The clip is there, and... looks fine. Outside diameter matches the illustration.

Shining a light in the transmission shows nothing untoward looking.

One potential brain fart (and god I'm gonna feel like such an *** if this is it): I've been purchasing parts for a 1996 850 GLT, even quoted that in my post above. I just stumbled on the car title and realized I actually own a '95 GLT.
My casual internet searches have revealed little to no difference between the 95 and 96, (same engine and no major chassis revisions), but could that have been the case?

EDIT: Yea, had to go dig out my jug, which is full of old trans fluid I've forgotten to take somewhere, and Dex/Merc is what it was, (book said "Dex III" and the back of the jug said Dex III compatible, which is what I went by). Got Valvoline also in fact

 

just noticed several holes in my account, see if I can plug them with information:

The ring, (snap ring? c-clip? retainer?) is there, not scuffed or shiny or scratched or bent or out of round that I can tell. I don't know about "tight", you can move it around in it's groove on the end of the axle, but you can't take it off without mauling it.

When I said I "reseated the axle"; I basically lined up the CV joints and shoved it into the transmission. It rammed up tight and stayed. I'm not sure of the proper terminology, but where the spline ends..

ok, the splines are the actual grooves in the shaft, uhh... it jammed up tight to theee... seal boss? (I think?) The part where the diameter of the thing steps out dramatically. As in the "Not Going In Any Farther" bit.

It went in that far, good and snug. And I could no longer pull it out by hand, it wouldn't wiggle, and it wouldn't come back out with a prybar without serious effort, which I thought was as it should be. (Yea, I did pry on it, since it just popped itself out).
The one thing I took note of was that it never "clicked". My previous FWD experience comes mostly from Honda's, and I was kinda expecting some sort of tactile/auditory confirmation that I had, in fact, seated the axle. All I got was a sudden cessation of movement.

I hope my three day silence didn't come across as a lack of regard or gratitude guys, had a lot going on here. But I do very much appreciate you all taking the time to gnaw on this with me.

My cell phone camera stopped working, when I snag someone with some functional tech, I'll take pix.

 

People get busy, it's normal. It's like people who post a question and ten minutes later they post again . . . Nobody knows ???

Most of us haven't even got off work yet.

As for that retaining clip, it should be loose in that groove just as you describe. Sometimes if I've had a difficult one and I can see it's started to bend because it's not centering as you're trying to get it into the case. I'll use a little axle grease in the groove to help center the ring so it will compress going into the trans and not have an end sticking out a bit more than the other and get jammed and bent.

I did both my axles early on and the passenger side clicked in. It felt as it should. The driver side didn't and still isn't two years later. I pulled it out the first night and tried to "seat" it a couple times and finally figured it was in. Everything looked ok and the gap from where the axle housing flares out to the trans or gasket face is about 3/8s or a little more as it should be but I never felt the click or a positive bottoming of the shaft. I've read in other threads where people have had issues with the drivers side but they really should just pop in the same way, same "feel".

 

Thanks for that. Now that I know the click is mandatory I'm gonna try reshoving the thing a few times.

 

Whoa .......... It isn't mandatory but it is "common" for it to audibly click and you can usually feel it but it's pretty subtle.

Like I said about my own, mine did not click and I've been driving on it for two years. It still bothers me but I know I tried to seat it a number of times and I never got a click. I finally gave up because upon inspection I couldn't see where it would go in any further.

 

Something else to look at could be your motor mounts. If any of them are shot and allowing the engine/trans to move around while the wheels are turned it may be pulling the trans away from the hub assembly and pulling the weaker side out.
The hub end of the axle has a retaining nut, the trans side has a clip, the clip side will lose that battle in a pulling contest

 

Guys, I apologize yet again. Handysmurf's suggest made so much sense I forgot to come back in here and thank you all.
Just as a general eyeball, cranking the thing up and revving it a little bit does indeed cause the engine to jump around like my autistic 7 year old. So I've ordered another set of motor mounts from FCP. (Great site by the way, parts much less expensive than the local parts slingers, even with shipping).
Expecting the mounts tomorrow or the next day. Have two out of three of the old ones undone, one question though; anyone know any handy way to get the lower rear bolt without taking the sway bar off? (Not that taking the sway bar off is a terribly big deal, I really just needed to come sit in the AC for abit, told my wife "Gotta ask the guys online a question honey! Heading back to work in a sec!" ).

Thx much all, you've been an absolute blessing

 

So, is the axle staying in now and the car running?

 

Dunno yet. The mounts didn't show up until an hour ago.
I had procrastinated enough that now I'm out there fighting that rear bolt again (had stuff to fix inside also). The sway bar was coming off quite nicely until I got the passenger side end link. Hex key on the end is rounded out, been trying to get it off without mutilating the thing (replace it later I swear). About to attempt holding it with a set of vice-grips.
And figure out the reinstall when I get to that point.