Driveshaft Squeaking? - With Video

I've been trying to track down a noise that occurs only in reverse gear and while the car is loaded on all 4 wheels. Video

Here are the steps I have taken:

1. With the car on stands in reverse gear with wheels spinning off the ground - no noise, but once on the ground it makes noise

2. I took off the heat shield and sprayed silicone spray on the drive shaft's rubber gaskets - no changes.

One thing I noticed with the car off the ground, is my rear wheels would rotate together if I only spun one wheel, but my front wheels would spin independently in drive and reverse gear, but rotated in opposite directions when in park. Can someone verify this on their car?

Any thoughts or suggestions would be awesome

Well I think the rear is limited slip and front is open on all lgt. So the rear spinning together but the front independently seems right. Unless I totally misunderstand differentials, which I might. The spinning opposite in park seems odd though

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Thanks Dude, I found another odd development.

So the car is still on stands with the engine idling, and in reverse (or drive) gear only 3 of the 4 wheels will spin easily. When I first engage the gear and let off the brakes all 4 wheels will spin, but the front passenger will slowly come to a stop. Giving it some revs will get it going again but it will inevitably stop at idle.

This ended up throwing a code p0500 with error ss on the dash and blinking cruise light. A quick search tells me it's a speed sensor error. My assumption is that one wheel can't keep up with the others, hence the code. The easiest explanation I can think of is dragging brakes on that side(which it is a bit harder to rotate the frt pass wheel by hand than the others) but I would think the car has enough power to rotate them all easily with all wheels suspended in air with no load.

Took it for a drive and the code did not clear itself, but the car drove fine with no problems. So I cleared the code and drove, again no problems and the code did not return.

I'm stumped at the moment, and hope this sound is not an indication of bigger issues with the transmission or center diff.

I just listened to the video and holy hell that sounds horrible. If you've checked all the heat shields, then I personally would find that very concerning.

Do you have a way to access the ssm and pull C codes? I searched around some and that can apparently tell you what sensor is acting up. Apparently you can check them with a meter and see if they are good based on specs in the FSM.

Part way down this thread you get some good info from madrig. I unfortunately can't help ya too much. But I personally wouldn't drive more than necessary. Can't find a part number through a quick search but it doesn't sound like it's terribly expensive.

Thanks Dude, I found another odd development.

 

So the car is still on stands with the engine idling, and in reverse (or drive) gear only 3 of the 4 wheels will spin easily. When I first engage the gear and let off the brakes all 4 wheels will spin, but the front passenger will slowly come to a stop. Giving it some revs will get it going again but it will inevitably stop at idle.

Not sure if this really explains the sounds, but it sure sounds like your AWD system is having some issues. seems like the wheel that is having trouble spinning is having the brake applied.

I would start at the wheel that is having trouble spinning. pull that sucker off and inspect the caliper, pads, and lines to make sure there is no visible evidence of an issue.

perhaps the bearing is beginning to seize? have you heard any noises previously that might indicate this?

Thanks Dude, I found another odd development.

 

So the car is still on stands with the engine idling, and in reverse (or drive) gear only 3 of the 4 wheels will spin easily. When I first engage the gear and let off the brakes all 4 wheels will spin, but the front passenger will slowly come to a stop. Giving it some revs will get it going again but it will inevitably stop at idle.

This is normal operation of an open diff. If you had a way to safely put resistance to the spinning tire the other one would start to spin. Both rear wheels spin due to lsd.

You got a code because of the non spinning wheel. If you were on the ground driving it would recognize the free wheel as rotating at a similar speed. Had you given it enough miles it most likely would have cleared on its own. Since its abs related it wants to hang around a while.

The sound sounds to me like a dust shield making contact with a rotor or perhaps a brake shoe making noise. Have you tried gently applying the parking brake while backing up to see if the noise changes?

I just replaced both front wheel bearings less than 2000 miles ago. New front brake pads about the same time, so lots of meat left on them. However, I have not had good luck with reman calipers and have had to go through 2-3 sets on the front due to seizing.

The noise persists while applying the brakes (including e brake) and seems more consistant with the quicker rotation of the driveshaft. Pinpointing the sound always leads me directly below the front seats about 2ft behind the front axles. I can definitely confirm its not the brakes.

Car drives straight and true even when getting on it, so it seems power is applied equally.

Thanks Dave, that puts me more at ease that it is less likely to be the trans.

How easy is it to drop the driveshaft? I felt no play or slop when inspecting.

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Decided to drop the prop shaft and found the culprit... Driveshaft u-joints were completely trashed, to the point where most of my body weight was required to move them. I'm glad I caught this "sooner". I read a post on here about a month ago where someone's driveshaft grenaded on them and took out parts of the trans.

Found a OE prop shaft on Ebay for $350 which was about half of heuburger was charging. Car wants to cruise much smoother and shifts are much more firm. It may be my wife's civic talking but I think it may have picked up another 5-10hp at the wheels...this thing wants to scoot now.

Check out the bearing failure here.

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Glad you found it! A drive shaft snapping is scary stuff!

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