Failed the jack test miserably...but wait! there's more!

[Red_liner740]

Almost a year ago i bought a 325ix Touring from a local fellow. Swore up and down that the VC is fine and all 4 wheel move together.

Couldnt test it at the time so i took his word for it.

A bunch of things happened with the car, none of which i'm happy about. Lets just say that a "just needs front fenders and hood repainted" has turned into it sitting on jacks with about 4 square feet of sheetmetal cut out in the front passenger wells. I havent even gotten to the rear wheel well rust. 600 bucks worth of replacement panels on order i'm finally ready to "restore" this Touring.

Anywho, when i was jacking it up i decided to performed the jack test.

Nope, nada, rear wheels spin like crazy with zero movement from the front.

So i let it idle in first with the rear wheel spinning and look underneath to see whats up? wait a minute....the front driveshaft is spinning! oh NOES!! front diff is fubared...

So i put it on the lift, remove the front diff cover and everything looks fine. Ring and pinion are there and good, spider gears are there and good....but wait! where's the front left axle shaft inside the case? I dont see it sticking into the diff like the right side. The actual left half-shaft is there but for some reason no shaft protrudes into the differential?

So with nothing stopping all the power to go to the free wheeling side, i have no front drive....

Why in the world would someone do that? What would posses someone to go to the trouble of removing the left half shaft, gutting the diff side and putting it back on?

So next question, anyone got a good left side half-shaft?

[ttrousdell]

Im curious how you missed seeing so much rust that its requiring "4 square feet of sheetmetal cut out in the front passenger wells." I feel like living in a climate where it snows half the year, getting under the car and checking it out personally or in a PPI would be priority. Either way im sure you're kicking yourself for not doing it after now being $600 in the hole.

People are shady. That's how it is. You have to be smart and get a PPI or be at least be somewhat knowledgeable if you're buying an old car.

[Red_liner740]

Shady is right...remember 325ixs have fender flares that hide a lot of stuff

I knew there was gonna be some rust repair in the front corners...it was hard to see due to him or someone previous to him slathering black tar undercoating in that entire area....it wasnt until i removed the carpet that the true extent was visible.

In the end, Its a Touring i picked up for $4K, the plan from day one was a restoration so i'm not TOO peeved about it.

The idea was for a retired body man to fix small rust spots, repaint it and i'd have it in the spring. We dug into it, found much more major rust repair needed and the old man bailed. Turns out "I dont do rust repair, all my life i fixed crash damage....sorry"

So now i'm gonna learn sheet metal repair...fine, its a hobby, i cant take 5 years to fix it cuz its a toy, and something to wrench on.

[duffyboby]

Shady is right...remember 325ixs have fender flares that hide a lot of stuff

I knew there was gonna be some rust repair in the front corners...it was hard to see due to him or someone previous to him slathering black tar undercoating in that entire area....it wasnt until i removed the carpet that the true extent was visible.

In the end, Its a Touring i picked up for $4K, the plan from day one was a restoration so i'm not TOO peeved about it.

The idea was for a retired body man to fix small rust spots, repaint it and i'd have it in the spring. We dug into it, found much more major rust repair needed and the old man bailed. Turns out "I dont do rust repair, all my life i fixed crash damage....sorry"

So now i'm gonna learn sheet metal repair...fine, its a hobby, i cant take 5 years to fix it cuz its a toy, and something to wrench on.

Is this the red touring with the black fenders that was in ottawa? it looked too good to be true.

[Red_liner740]

No, Green....from Toronto.

[spdracrm3]

trying to understand the axle issue ,so is the splined stub missing or the whole inner CV joint gone ? did they cut the stub off the CV ?(in which case the end of axle would be flailing about unsupported) its all part of the inner CV cup so would take a lot of work to cut off

you sure its not just a case of not being fully seated? this is common to not get them fully seated into spiders when replacing the axles

[Mr. Burns]

Is this the red touring with the black fenders that was in ottawa? it looked too good to be true.

my buddy bought that one.

it's nice.

[Mr. Burns]

was this the one posted on Maxbimmer last year?

I would go back to the seller and ask WTF

[Red_liner740]

Honestly, i'm not sure. From the outside everything looks honky dory...Doesnt look like the inner CV is sticking out of the diff (can it even pull out due to the length of shaft causing issues on the wheel side?)

I havent done anything in regards to it yet. So far i'm slowly working on repairing the rust + dealing with my other hobbies/side jobs.

Once i take it apart to look closely i'll update with what i find.

trying to understand the axle issue ,so is the splined stub missing or the whole inner CV joint gone ? did they cut the stub off the CV ?(in which case the end of axle would be flailing about unsupported) its all part of the inner CV cup so would take a lot of work to cut off

you sure its not just a case of not being fully seated? this is common to not get them fully seated into spiders when replacing the axles

[Red_liner740]

Caveat Emptor.

Was it misrepresented? Sure. Was it done intentionally? That, i dont know.

We messaged a few times since then and he wanted to know how the cars doing....would you do that if you knowingly misrepresented the car?

was this the one posted on Maxbimmer last year?

I would go back to the seller and ask WTF

[duffyboby]

my buddy bought that one.

it's nice.

nice, i tought it looked ok even with the mismatched body colors, wouldve loved to get that car.

[supernaughtIX]

I've seen the car, unique green. Not a terminal problem. If you need a diff or axles there are guys that can help out for reasonable prices, including me, but I'm in Peterborough. Just please keep in mind that no iXes are what they seem when you go to buy, and most in this part of the world have rust issues in the floor where you have issues. My touring is the same.
Let me know if I can help out, I've been tearing into iXes for 10 years and still have 2, and a load of spare parts, including front diffs and shafts.

[Red_liner740]

Thanks for the offer, will def contact you once i tackle the program.

Im not overly concerned, it was just a head scratcher as to how or why it happened.

I've seen the car, unique green. Not a terminal problem. If you need a diff or axles there are guys that can help out for reasonable prices, including me, but I'm in Peterborough. Just please keep in mind that no iXes are what they seem when you go to buy, and most in this part of the world have rust issues in the floor where you have issues. My touring is the same.
Let me know if I can help out, I've been tearing into iXes for 10 years and still have 2, and a load of spare parts, including front diffs and shafts.