Was on the way to a friends last night, was overtaking a lorry when all of a sudden the car made a weird sound then BANG! Initially I thought "Sh*t get ya bones ready if the diffs blew up and gonna lock up!" Luckily though it didn't and I managed to roll to into a layby and stop the car. Got out and had a look from the back underneath with my torch and thought it was strange how there werent any oils or guts gushing from anywhere Then I shon the light further up the car and saw this circular shaped hole looking thing then realised to myself "Oh look i've just snapped the prop!" I got from underneath the car and had a look around and saw the other half of the prop rolling into the gutterside lol. Went and picked it up and got the car towed home.

I found it real strange how a prop would just all of a sudden go?? I hadn't kicked the clutch or anything, I was half way through the rev range so surely there wouldnt be enough torque to stress it that much? Anyway got home from work today and had a quick look around underneath and saw this.....



Yup thats my gearbox lol! Since i've had the car whenever it's been in neutral and the clutch engaged it's made a clunking sound, and I could never determine wether it was the somewhere at the front in the bellhousing or at the rear in the gearbox. I reckon it was probably something in the gearbox which has eventually given way

Oh well I did say I was gonna take the prop off this weekend lol! Heres the rear half of my prop:

DUDE!! iam now seriously worried...

and what is that with the gear box?? is it cracked?

Yes mate, its cracked the casing hardcore, Gearbox is off to heaven by the looks of things!

i already had a big bang... prop falling off, but this is scary i hope you can fix it up, i feel really bad about it, and mine clunks too.

Ouch, Ebay may be you're friend if you can't find a prop at the moment!

Or it's time to get a custom one made.......

Pete

Got me a prop sourced already £35 from CP Motors in Polesworth

Think I may have me a diff n box sourced also, watch this space Don't NEED the diff but hey, can never have too many spares lmao!

Looking at that i would say its an input shaft lockup into the gearbox. So engine still turning gearbox not, one sheared prop. Cant see how else it could do that
I am on my second prop but all i did on that one was eat the splines, it still drove.
Adam

I've never had that happen. I've killed a few prop splines but nothing like that!

I would think the problem will probably be the diff having locked as Adam has suggested.

At least you will have something to do for the next couple of days

Can a diff lock for just a couple seconds then to cause that? The car still freely rolls around no problem so if the diff did lock it isn't still locked? Just hope it doesnt become a common thing lol. Thats a question mind, should gearbox oil be able to reach as far up as the nose of the gearbox where its cracked? If so then I wonder if there wasn't enough oil in the box being as no oil has come out from the cracking at all?

i'worried too,my car is making the same noiseswhen clutch is engaged.....
it could be a gearbox oil problem cause i'm having trouble shifting gears when the engine is cold or didn't run for more than 10 hours
that means the oil is low and the gear box is not properly lubricated. have u had the same problem?

Don't worry - just do an oil change on the box its well worth it

Well the car is up and running again hoorah! Needs a bit of fine tuning as it crunches in 3rd a little bit higher up in the revs but bar that it's all hunky dory! I'm so happy it's up and running again!

Welded diff again? Or changed everything?

How much torque does the 16 have? Wonder or my 1.4 turbo (which produse easy 200+ Nm) will kills the prop even quicker.

16V using www.ultimatespecs.com states the torque of the 1.8 16v clio lump to be 158NM as standard. Dunno what mine will be with the carbs on or whatever? So it's less than your turbo I think