Manual Transmission Problems - 98 Toyota Camry

I have a 98 Toyota Camry with a V6 and Manual transmission. While on vacation the transmission went out. Had it towed back home and to mechanic. Mechanic changed the transmission and it drove 1/2 mile before the cv joints popped out of place on the passenger side. Changed the 1/2 shaft. Now the car goes in to gear and the speedometer moves like the car is moving - even though the car is not moving. What could be the issue preventing the car from going into gear? Do you have jack stands?

If you can get the front tires off the ground, put the transmission into gear, engine off, and clutch out. Then try to spin both front wheels at the same time in the same direction while someone watches the CV axles. You shouldn't be able to turn both wheels in the same direction at the same time when it is in gear. If you can spin the wheels in the same direction at the same time, watch the inboard joint of each axle and see if they are turning. If either inboard joint is turning, something happened to the differential in the transaxle or splines are stripped out. You could even have the wrong axle installed, so compare the splines on the old CV to the new CV and make sure they match. Hi deborah1970,

You stated that the mechanic changed the transmission. Are you sure he changed the entire transmission? Did you mean to say clutch or cv joints? He changed the transmission. Because my car is standard we had to order twice. People don't believe a camry can come with anything other than an automatic transmission so it's always a circus getting the right parts. The cv joints were changed as well. Hello Deborah,

Thanks for responding. You stated that cv joints popped out of place on the passenger side. I’m going to interpret “Popped Out of Place” as the half shaft separating (in tact and whole) from the transaxle/differential side. In tact and whole means that the joint did not separate or break leaving the spline stuck in the transaxle.

Causes

Haft shaft was installed without circlip.
Half shaft is wrong for application.
Half shaft is wrong for application (It’s too short).
Differential gear issues.Car Repair Talk's forum.