Good evening NAM,

I've searched around this forum for awhile and haven't been able to find an issue to my problem, I hope you can help. I have a 2014 Paceman S, FWD, 6MT with 130k miles. Last week I was out doing some deliveries, I pulled up to park. Put the car in Park, left it in neutral, hopped back in and pulled away at a modest pace in 1st gear. Around 5 MPH, there was a small bang followed by a loud grinding noise. I put the car in 2nd, 3rd, and even tried 4th and all it did was grind. I pulled over and inspected underneath the car and found no issues, turning the wheels, I found this on the passenger side axle:




CV axle boot was quite twisted. I tried all other gears, was able to get a small roll forward before it just started grinding. I towed it home, removed the axle and found it was under quite a lot of tension in the boot. Barely able to bend it much at all. I ended up piercing the boot to inspect and found gear oil shooting out at a high PSI. After removing the boot the axle bent in it's usual motions and I didnt see any signs of premature wear or damage on the CV joints. I started the car up without the axle uninstalled and found there was no grinding as I put it in gear, with the passenger side up in the air and driver side on the ground. I re-installed the axle into the transmission and hub (I'm unable to secure it with the locknut thanks to myself smashing the threads on the old axle) and put into gear in the air with no adverse sounds or noises. Needless to say, I'm pretty stumped on what could be causing the original grinding noise and lack of movement from the transmission. Just a failed CV or something internal like a differential problem? I was able to snap a picture down the transmission hole from where the axle was, but it's kind of blurry.




I ordered a new RF axle to come from RockAuto (apparently they are hard to come by??) but found it was over an inch too short. A 2nd axle is on the way, if that's too short I'll try recutting the threads on the old axle so I can fit a nut on and see what happens next. Anyone ever had an issue like this before?

 

That CV joint looks like it decided to give up on life. A new axel is likely needed

 

Thats my diagnosis as well, however trying to find the right one is turning out to be a bit of a needle in the haystack type situation..

 

So I ordered a GSP axle from RockAuto and it was over an inch short! Trying a different brand from partsgeek now and we'll see what we can get cooking here