I thought my transmission was going because it seems to be making a loud grinding noise as if the gears are grinding, but the mechanic (that I don‘t trust) from the dealership is telling me it‘s an axle clip. at least that is what I thought he said. The thing is that my car is a 2004 Mitsubishi Endeavor that is covered under warranty until 100,000 miles. and it‘s at 99,000 miles. so I‘m thinking perhaps the dealership is trying to just get me out of there quickly so I‘ll run up the mileage until the warranty is out and then it would be my responsibility to fix it.At any rate, the transmission is leaking, and the engine is making a grinding noise. is there any type of clip on the axle or engine that could be causing this?Thank you in advance for your help!
Front and most rear wheel drive cars have a thick *captive C clip on the splined axle inside the driven ring and pinion case that holds the axles in place. Without this C clip an axle *would fly right out of your car and or bang against the *spider gear post in the center if the ring gear. Wish I could show you these parts. The splined end of the axle is hidden inside the ring and pinion gears. The end if the axle you can't see has a U machined in it for the clip to slide in. I'm not BS'ing you! Insist that the dealer of the car makes proper repairs,
I suspect that the only part that might be called an axle clip is a split ring retainer on the transmission end of the axle which retains it in the drive gear spline. If the axle is pulling away from the gear, this could easily cause the grinding noise and leakage that you are experiencing - and will soon cause significantly more damage and a no-drive condition.
The axles are held in place with a retaining clip at the end of the axle where it goes into the transmission. If this clip should break, it allows the axle to wander in and out which could cause gear damage inside the transmission from not meshing properly. The clip is a $2.00 item and most mechanics have spares in their tool boxes from lots of previous repairs. Hope this helps
