Friend of mine has an '86 Nissan Sentra beater. She drives it very little and tries to put as little money into it as possible. Hell, she even got the car for free. The CV boots have been split open for years so the joints are contaminated and mostly exposed. However, there is no evidence of mechanical trouble in that the joints make no noise and don't exhibit any funky behavior under any driving condition. One mechanic said that although they need replacement, they won't likely suffer a catastrophic failure without first giving some obvious warning sign. I've had only one joint failure in a higher performance front driver and know that the car was still drivable even though a big chunk of loose steel was floating around in there. So, all that being said, is it generally safe to continue driving this car with contaminated and exposed joints? o No: Opinions from my fellow gearheads are most appreciated! :beer
No...dirt and water will get in... once the boots r torn they need replacing...the lubricant will dry up and hurt the joint:Brow:
My experience I had a joint/axle 'slip out' at highway speed..(Toyota Camry) It made a 'klunk' when it slipped out.. Then the car started to pull to one side.. I slowed down..and seconds later it must have popped back in..and didn't happen again. I didn't, wait, though.. I got it fixed. I wouldn't wait on this.. Stanley
My experiance from Volkswagons has shown me that the rubber is not near as good with the joint itself. If you spend some time to take the joint apart(this is trick at times with different joints) wash them with some type of parts solvent (kerosene will work as well as any thing), thouroughly pack it with the grease included with a new boot (generally $15), it may be a cheep but time consuming fix. First, check on the price of an axle assy. Some of them are as cheep as $59. can't vouch for the quality though. Either way it will go out and strand her eventually. I heard of them breaking and have personally seen one cease up to the point were the clutch will slip just tring to move the car. If you pull it apart yourself, remember to take it apart at the ball joint. If you take it apart were the strut bolts on to the spindle, you will have to have the car realigned. Good Luckwhat ever is decided.
torn boot happened on my honda, I ended up busting the axle before the joint went though... e-brake burnouts :grin: Eitehr way I'd get it fixed ASAP
You gotta watch out as some of them older cars had lead grease in the CV. When you buy the new CV at the store it comes with a packet of grease that gives the warning. But last time I did one was in the 80's. Matt uzzled:
If'n it were my car.... I'd get a "speedy boot" replacement boot for it if they are available. Cut the old boot off and clean the joint the best you can. Re pack with new grease and install speedy boot. Will probably only last a couple of years but requires very little work and cash.... NOTE I would not recommend this if the joint is popping or otherwise acting flakey... Easy test on CV's is to get in a nice parking lot and do some lock to lock circles a few times... You will most likely hear a peculiar popping sound along with a bit of feedback in the steering wheel if they are bad. Also check into the price of a reman half shaft... sometimes they are DAMN CHEAP. best of luck
Yah, I later found out that it was cheaper to buy an entire new shaft (for the other side, which was also beginning to rip) than just the replacement boot. Changed both sides at once :grin:
axle joints bad brad, take your friends car for a ride. make some left and right hand turns at around 10 or 15 mph. if you hear a clicking noise when you turn the cv joints are no longer any good. dont bother trying to put new boots on them. buy a complete axle assembly. they come with new inner and outer joints and boots.if youve never done this before take it to a shop. if the joints dry up enough to break the car will stop because only one side of the transmission will be moving.
