I just replaced my passenger CV axle in a '98 Honda Civic DX and I was able to back up out of my garage and go forward a little in 1st gear. When I put it in reverse again though it didn't move and sounded like it wasn't in gear, but it doesn't matter what gear I try to put it in it just revs and I get no movement. The clutch and the shifter act normally.

I'm wondering if the CV axle isn't long enough and when I tightened the axle nut it pulled the CV axle out of the gearbox and then when I turned the wheel it pulled it out enough to not make contact? I compressed the old CV axle as much as I could and it's 25" and the description of the new one says it's 24.5"? I couldn't find any replacement one's online that were 25" so maybe I'm just not compressing it far enough? Wouldn't the driver-side CV axle still give it some power though?

The other thing I'm wondering is if maybe the manual transmission fluid is low. I jacked the passenger side up high so I wouldn't spill much fluid when I pulled the CV axle out of the gearbox, but nothing dripped out at all. Maybe coating the new CV axle was enough to drop the fluid level down to the point it quit working?

Any ideas?

Thanks for any help ahead of time.

 

If you put the splines in far enough into the transmission, they would have locked into the clip. If the axle were too short, tightening the axle nut wouldn't have pulled it out of the tranny, it would have pulled the CV shaft apart.

And no, the other side would not give you traction. The side with the least traction is the side that will spin.

Also, low fluid in a manual transmission will not cause it not to turn. That is only an issue with autos. You can drive a manual empty, just not very far.

I would go back under and make sure you actually engaged it all of the way in the transmission.