U-30AT

How far can one drive the car in limp home mode?

General Limp home mode
With the trans in neutral, reach in and try to rotate the driveshaft. If you can rotate it back and forth a few degrees, the donut is gone and only the small metal 'limp home' tangs are transmitting power to the driveshaft.

is the above definition damning solely of the clutch OR could this condition be a result of bad drive axles?

Is it imperative to have the "clutch inspection plug"? Mine looks to have been missing for awhile.

JimV8

About 4 years. Ask me how I know.

U-30AT

inquiring minds want to know? pray tell

84_944guy

I drove mine like that for like 4 months until it broke. I am currently replacing it.

Wipeout

As long as you can resist trying to beat Civics off the line. I've not heard of many people having the inspection plug; falls out along the way.

JayJ911T

To check bad drive axles, you rotate the wheels with the tranny "still". An easy way is to remove the shaft, and twist the ends to see if there is play. Sure, you can drive a long time in "limp home", but why would you want to? The backlash will pound your ring and pinion gear. Trans parts are very, very expensive, and I recommend avoiding their replacement if you can.

porcho heat

I drove for about 2 years on mine... It's not recommended if you are keeping the same tranny, but I was swapping another one in as soon as the clutch died anyway.

JimV8

Not long after getting the car I took it to the track and after some spirited driving I had a lot of slack in the driveline, that was four years ago. Well longstoryshort last year I replaced the transaxle after it started to make a loud clanging noise. Moral of the story, forgetaboudid, fix the clutch, its cheaper than the gearbox..