If you are not experiencing any vibration while driving, your driveshaft end u-joints are OK. They will always have a LITTLE play.

That center bearing DOES look worn, though.



Does 'flagged' mean that you failed the inspection and your V is not legal to be driven? The driveshafts are difficult to repair because the end joints are crimped, or staked, in. Most shops would just want to replace it, and Rock Auto shows prices between $152 - $280 in US dollars. Several owners have just removed the propshaft and run front wheel drive...

If you do your own oil changes, spray the end joints with silicone while waiting for the oil to fully drain, to keep the dust boots supple.

 

I mean, there is a bit of vibration at times but nothing I've ever been overly bothered by enough to question what was causing it. I see that you can buy centre bearing's separately but it looks to be a bit of a pain to replace and probably not something I want to attempt and unsure if I'd find a garage willing to do it cheaper than just buying the least expensive driveshaft from RockAuto.

I need to keep the driveshaft though as we get a bit of ice and snow here and have a very steep driveway that our other front wheel drive vehicle sometimes can't get up after snow/ice.

The car is still legal to drive until Jan 31st or until I get another test and pass.

 

Try to go to another place for Safety Inspection. Maybe these guys wanted you to spend more money than that is not necessary. I have seen many places like these just want to rip off people even if not necessary.

The play could be for heat expansion. The vibration could be coming from stiff joints. Good luck

 

So interesting update, I asked on my city subreddit about this and was told by everyone who replied that the driveshaft is NOT part of the MVI (inspection) and so it's irrelevant. Really odd why the garage told me this failed because of the driveshaft and it wasn't like they said "you're lucky, we have one in the back here ready to go for $400 and can install today". The lady at the front called a load of places looking for the part and kinda gave up when the only option she got back was $800 coming from Montreal as if she knew that wasn't worth it. She really wasn't trying to push me so I have no idea what their game was. Definitely going to take it back to a different garage once I've addressed the issues I know are legit.

 

Curious: how exactly did they test it and fail it?

Second curiosity: do you get a checklist from them at the end that shows you the passes and fails? If so, is there an actual drive shaft check on the checklist?

I'm sensing some blowing of smoke up your rear by the inspector here, especially after you tested the issue on reddit. On the other hand, I would never trust a reddit based opinion on anything, so I would seek other sources to sanity check anything on reddit.

 

Went under the car and pull on it I would assume is how they determined the 'play'?

If it passes you get a sticker on the windshield to show it passed, otherwise if it fails within 10 days of your current sticker expiring, they put a 'failed' notice over it I believe.

I really don't know what was going on to be honest, I even had the wheels off myself today to look at the sway bar links. Only checked the fronts so far but I'm struggling to get any 'play' out of those either. I have found the official checklist though and is does state that the drivetrain is not part of the inspection so I have no idea why the mechanic that did the inspection flagged it.

It also failed due to 'improper lug nuts'. I looked it up on the checklist and lug nuts need to be flush or shorter than the rim spoke or something along those lines. The ones I have on are longer than the factory ones and stick out a bit past the rim. But weird thing is I have a 90 Civic with some very long lug nuts on it's rims that would no way pass the written criteria that I read. Yet it passed it's first MVI here at a Honda dealership a few years ago as well as it's second inspection last summer and the garage that inspected and passed it the second time? It's the same place that just failed my CRV this week so I've no idea.....

Basically, for now, lesson is, don't go back there.

 

Went under the car and pull on it I would assume is how they determined the 'play'?

Hmm... a pretty subjective test actually if that is what they did.

Perhaps you simply ended up with an over zealous inspector. Hopefully they don't have a weekly quota for "fails".

 

Here where I live in Canada we have to pass a vehicle inspection every few years.

I've never heard of anything like that. Is this a commercial vehicle?