She called saying she went to take off at a green light and heard a loud pop, and the car stopped moving with a random knocking noise.
Now, I’ve seen half shafts fail/come apart at the CV-joints. But I’ve never seen the shaft itself snap.
But then, if you look closely, the shaft tapers down from about 1 3/8" to less than 3/4" at the harmonic damper.
As the song goes, "You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet!
Tester
Fatigue failure at the narrowest point with a cyclic load from the damper. Seems like the exact point you’d think it would fail… and it did. Congratulations?!?
At least you don’t have to hunt for the problem!
That’s something I wouldn’t have believed unless I saw it. I’m guessing that part was faulty from the get-go, just took some time for it to fail. Good photos.
The diameter was reduced because of rust, water trapped under the damper.
Thanks for the easy problem sir.
When I saw the title without seeing who posted it, I was expecting another oil change story.
Kids car was towed to my house for crank sensor
Than I did: Valve cover gaskets
Flex brake hoses
2 wheel bearings
New brake pads
Still looking for more
Nope!
It was made that way.
Tester
Despite all the rain we get in the Pacific NW, rust isn’t really an issue here. But I have seen a rust belt car that relocated here that snapped an axle in half like that. I’ve seen that on a new car too.
Back in 2001 I worked at a shop where the owner thought it would be fun to have one of our loaner cars be a 2000 Beetle. We loaned it out for a weekend, Monday morning it had been towed back with no explanation, no note or phone call. Turns out the left CV axle had snapped in half. The car was new enough there were no complete axles available. I had to assemble a new shaft and boots with the old joints. Customer never said a word about what he was doing with the car.
Was there possibly a ring indented or cut into the shaft to locate the weight? The break was totally through the shaft apparently instantaneously and caused a great deal of heat in separating.
No evidence of any heat.
Tester
Well whaddya know?!
The daughters car is a Honda!
Tester
Duct tape will fix that right up! Gorilla tape for a longer lasting repair.
Add some tie wraps, good to go 
Put some gorilla glue on before the gorilla tape.
The separation has the appearance of molten metal separation
Well, you’re wrong.
Tester
I’ve heard that Hondas never break.
No doubt true, but the axles just snap in half. The Honda itself is still fine, I’d bet!
Perhaps several/many years of driving through that wonderful Minnesota road salt and the resulting corrosion gave that break a head start.
And there is something really awesome about obvious, self-diagnosing auto repairs. They kind of make up for some of the elusive dreaded intermittent problems that cause some mechanics to turn to alcohol, other professions, or into tool throwing madmen.
And, hey, it wasn’t the transmission!
CSA
Nice photos! What kind of torque can that engine produce??
Corrosion would be too superficial to causenough weakness.
Defect in manufacture.
Will Honda replace?
Nope. Watch that video, there was LOTS of corrosion at the same location, caused by water/salt being trapped under the rubber damper. Once there’s corrosion like that, it creates sites where stress is concentrated, resulting in failure.
So it’s not a defective part. It is a poor design, IMO, because it can result in this. I bet there are few/no problem in low-rust locations.
nephew has leaky seal on trans case on pass side. i really dont want to pull the 2 piece axle. maybe if i had a lift.
