This one is my sons daily driver.
He called and reported a loud clunk/band then a loss of all power. Engine still running, car will not engage in any gear and will not hold in park. My first thought was a flex disk but I am not hearing any vibration or noises from the area of the flex disks. The car is being towed back to his house in the morning and I'm trying to develop a troubleshooting plan for him. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks

Dean

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Dean

Sounds like a flex disk, for sure. Hopefully you have a warm place to work.

:-( Not heated Mxfrank, but its dry.

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Dean

The output flange on the trans can wear the splines out causing loss of drive / holding in park.

would that cause a sudden loss or happen over time?

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Dean

My guess? Rear half shaft. Exact same thing happened to me recently. Driver side half shaft failed inside the hub when I was accelerating from a stop. Did not know it at the time, but flat bedded it home, jacked it up, put it in gear, main drive shaft was turning, driver side half shaft was turning, but no go. Break was basically inside the hub.

Good luck with it, hope it's simple like mine.

Rgds,
Chris W.
'95 E300D, 457K

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Objects in closer are mirror than they appear.

Were there any noises after the break, (while the car was in gear)? I didn't hear anything this afternoon when I helped him push it to the parking space.

There was a lot of slush and snow under and around the car so I didn't spend much time underneath, but am a bit puzzled by the lack of noise (figured I should hear something rubbing/flopping/or at least out of balance) but it was really quiet until I put it back in park (click, click, click..........)

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Dean

No noise whatsoever. Click click click noise virtually confirms my diagnosis. Why? Because when you put it in park, the driveshaft was still turning so it was clicking against the parking pawl in the trans until it caught. Holding your foot on the brake does not stop the driveshaft in this circumstance. If you put it in neutral so the driveshaft coasts to a stop, then put in park, you will not hear the clicks.

And I see you are in salt country...

Rgds,
Chris W.
'95 E300D, 457K

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Objects in closer are mirror than they appear.

Thanks Chris!

Yup BTDT


w201-w210 rear axles NEED SERVICING!!!

The broken axle in the second entry in this post was from my car.

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The OM 642/722.9 powered family
Still going strong
2014 ML350 Bluetec (wife's DD)
2013 E350 Bluetec (my DD)

both my kids cars went to junkyard in 2023
2008 ML320 CDI (Older son’s DD) fatal transmission failure, water soaked/fried rear SAM, numerous other issues, just too far gone to save (165k miles)
2008 E320 Bluetec (Younger son's DD) injector failed open and diluted oil with diesel, spun main bearings (240k miles)

1998 E300DT sold to TimFreeh
1987 300TD sold to vstech

some rubber sealant helps the boots on the axle shafts (little bit on the small end of it where it meets the shaft) - just like the anearobic sealant helps the inner joint seal out moisture at the diff flange.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

Both !

The output flange slides onto the trans splines then a nut holds everything together keeping the flange from moving on the splines.

Everytime there is a torque reversal ( on and off the throttle ) the flange tries to rotate CW and CCW eventually wearing the end of the flange. Once this occurs, the nut no longer holds everything stationary even though it never moved from it's properly installed position. ( the nuts have a locking rim that is bent over after torquing. ) The flange splines are not sized / hardened for motion and start to fret slowly wearing away.

At some point the tips of the splines are too thin to transmit torque and they break off allowing the trans output shaft to spin inside the flanges now round hole.

Trans output shafts are hardened but output flanges generally are not so damage to the trans isn't likely.

So, the wear occurs over a long period of time but the loss of drive is sudden.

In any event, you need to physically inspect the car as the output flange is only one possibility.

I forwarded all the possibilities you all suggested to my son and had him take a look. He found a broken CV shaft, just as was mentioned, We ordered the parts, had them drop-shipped and he was back underway.

Thanks for the help!!!!!

Dean

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Dean