damnitt shiiity day...went to firestone today to get rotors refaced and oil change and my mechanic (my dads best friend) showed me the axles and shiit on my car.....well first the cv boot is completely tore on the right side and most of the grease is gone its just like hanging around the boot and the left side boot is tore but not all the way and grease is leaking out ..... also the drivier side axle seal that goes into the tranny is leaking .... so im sittin here pretty pissed asking u guys what all do u think i have to replace on my car....do u think the ball joints are all fuked up since most of the grease leaked out......??? Thanks

 

How do you think I felt when I got my Max for $4200 then brought it to the dealer to get $1900 worth of work done on all that same crap? Just do it man, you have to. If you don't have the money I know your parents will help. That's just normal shyt that happends if people don't take care of their car over time.

 

yah but i had no clue anything was wrong....the car doesnt have any symptoms of bad cv joints or anything....turns and handles fine and everything i was fukin suprised and pissed when i saw that

 

Yea, I learned a lesson. Don't buy a car without taking it for a test drive on the highway. I had all those problems you have and noticed them after I bought the car. I was screwed...and still am.

 

I think you mean CV joints are forked 'cos of no grease, yes the probably will be. Just buy new axles from www.raxles.com


I don't think replacing the axle seal in gearbox is a biggie

 

yea and also i went to change a rotor the hub and some barring **** was borrken gotta fix now

 

You took your car to the stealership to get it repaired?

 

Man, I know your stoy. Today is the 1 year date from when I bought my Max. In the year I have replaced both the front axles a week after I bought it. That was a pretty penny, like 500 of em. I also had to replace the alternaor and the battery in January which ran me about 600 bucks. And right now I have to replace all my rotors because they are worn along with 2 new calipers and all new pads. Just had Firestone estimate me at 700 bucks. And to top it off, I was roped into buying it for 6000.

So in the end, I know how sh*tty it feels to have big jobs done on your car.

 

My cv axles are not ripped or leaking but both sides need to be replaced for some reason. They both pop and creek when i make turns. So yes it is possible to have bad axels even without torn boots.

 

don't worry
I'm sure mommy will pay for it.

 

Just change both sides axles. I'm not positive but I think that you have to take out your axle to get that seal anyway so it won't be that hard. I will be doing this in the next couple weeks too.

 

I hope you don't have an early production 97 and are have DIFFERENTIAL BEARING problems in your tranny...that could easily give you another grand in expenses. The driverside axle will start to leak when your tranny goes bad. Both axles will have to be replaced, along with the seals.

 

Just because the grease it out, it doesn't mean that the bearings are bad. Have your mechanic inspect them & if they are fine, have him regrease them and put on new boots.

 

Changing axles and seals is easy. You can probably get axles from advance for under $100 a pop and the seals will probably be a dealer item but can't cost more than like $10. Usually the seal goes into the tranny and the axles goes through the seal so you'll have to take the axles out anyway so you might as well replace it.

 

Atleast you guys caught it now, when the car is stationary. Two axles and a seal should round around $300, labor shouldnt be more than 1hr, 2hrs tops.

Thats a pretty decent price 500 pennies for your repairs

 

This is a great post. Next time someone says "is a 98 Max SE every option a good deal for $2500?" And all the response say "325k is nothing, the Maxima is just getting broken-in," they should read your $1900 reality-check post.

 

i have the same issue, my boots are torn bad and grease everywhere.. i took it to the mechanic and told him i read about replacing these POS (a few posts down there's a whole how-to on removing them) and he basically said yea the ball joints are more then likely f*cked... so just leave it as it is now and ride it out until it starts making noises on every turn.

Which doesn't sound to amazing of a solution to me, but being that im still recovering from getting new rotors, new brake calipers, new brake lines, new brakes (whole system got shot because of a warped caliper), new KS, new o2 and countless other crap.. im going to take his advice.

 

That is terrible advice! Riding out a problem like that isnt the solution. He tells you to wait till your problem get worse? will he help you if your balljoint give out on you and you lose control of the car? Please go somewhere else or have him to the work ASAP. How are you recovering from getting new rotors etc? if you mean financially ok, anything else . . .

 

yes i understand that the results of waiting on something like this could be pretty bad.. especially on the highway going 80mph.. but point is it's not yet at a point where repair is urgent.. and being that the balljoints are already messed up may as well wait some..

and yes i meant financially (been doing a sh*tload of maintenance-like work in a short period of time.. and it's no fun .. i would love to just slap on a catback, or just about anything performance-wise, but that'd be pointless with all this other nonsense my car is putting out :-/)

 

I am having a bad day at Firestone. Took car in at 8:00 am, its 3:30 now, and they still haven't called

 

axles and seals are no where near 300 dollars.....they are $120 for both axles and the seal is like $12

 

well my figure was based on purchasing axles from Raxles.com

 

People, this is called maintenance and it will have to be done to any 8-10 yr old car. Brakes, CV boots, alternators, batteries...

 

yah man i understand that but its just a shiitty feeling when u know you have to get that replaced NOW or something or knowing that u have something wrong with your car...i hate that

 

Yes, I know the feeling. If there is something not right with my car then I am not right. My comment was direct at those who seems surprised that things have to be replaced.