silverstone_f22

So just a few days ago I started to get a vibration from the rear of my MY06 at highway speeds. It wasn't severe but it was noticeable. I just moved to a new house therefore use a new highway going to work, it felt like it could have been the not as nice highway pavement. Well today I drove my fiancee to work with no music playing (rare) and realized it had gotten much worse. After thinking and driving more I started to think it was something with the driveshafts, prop shaft or even rear end. So I get home and look under the back of my car. Turns out one of the prop shaft to rear end bolts just so happened to fall out in my garage of all places. Then under further inspection I found all 6 loose to the point where I could pull them all out by hand with no struggle.

I did some searching and found an older thread about it. Everyone involved in that thread said they have never heard of this and that usually they get tighter with the galvanic corrosion. The weird thing I found is that the one that fell out had grease all over it. I wasn't sure if that was normal or not, as i really don't know what all is in the prop shaft but I didn't think there would be grease. it also slung a little bit of grease out from between the shaft and flange.

So to sum it up, the questions I have are: Is this grease normal to have in the prop shaft? If not where do you think it came from/what should be done about it? When I address this problem if it is one, should I replace the bolts with new or just reuse the old ones?

I am relatively new the S2000 but not new to cars, or wrenching in general by any means. So I have a very good understanding of this stuff, just would like some insight as I came from civics before this and am new to RWD.

Thanks ahead of time.

windhund116

Seems like you have two separate problems.

Grease on shaft, prolly is due to bad seal on tranny or rear end. Grease on properly tightened nuts should not cause them to loosen.

Was the shaft removed and replaced (improperly), recently? Maybe, whoever R&R'ed the shaft, put penetrating oil or grease on the bolt's threads?

silverstone_f22

It's definitely a grease though, not a fluid from the trans or read end. You can see its getting slung from the shaft where it meets the rear end flange. Nothing to my knowledge before I bought the car was there any work done on it, but who really knows. Nothing has been done since I've owned it. Definitely a heavier grease than a penetrating oil too. What's a good picture site that s2ki supports so I can post those up?

windhund116

I use Photobucket. Copy & Paste the IMG address in the SHARE LINKS.

silverstone_f22

windhund116

Looks like the driveshaft joint is leaking grease. Not sure why grease has been placed into the joint.

silverstone_f22

Yeah it's weird. I'm not sure if there is grease in there or not. Apparently so. But I just retorqued them and will keep an eye on them. It seems normal that there is grease in there and maybe since the bolts were loose it allowed the grease to come out.

Billman250

The grease is normal, as it is exiting the shaft through the breather hole. The loose shaft creates a spinning vacuum and draws it out.

The shaft was not properly tightened, 100%. Once tightened I promise you it will never come loose.

silverstone_f22

Awesome guys thanks for the insight from you both. I'm not sure how dirty a driveshaft would be at 80,000 miles but this one is pretty clean so maybe it was replaced for some reason.

Ethan Reynolds

Had the same problem recently. Grease and all. I'm buying all new bolts from a Honda dealer (I lost one while driving it seems).
I'll torque them to spec (24 ft/lb) and see what happens. Wish me luck