If anyone knows what it is, how can i fix this? thanks.

 

the cover is broken

 

That would be CV grease, your boot is torn.

I tore a small hole in mine when I was changing my wheel bearings, and first patched it with aquarium sealant, as a temp fix until I can get around to replacing the boot, or buying raxles.

The aquarium sealant didnt hold and a couple days later when I pulled off my wheel, it looked similar to that. This time I patched it with Hi Temp RTV Silicone. And it seems a lot better, I also put new grease in with a syringe to replace what was lost.

You may want to look into ordering a boot replacement kit that comes with a new boot + grease and everything else, I think they are around 25$. If this has been a problem for a while your CV's may go bad soon. I only patched mine because it was a small hole that I made, and I know it didnt leak for more than a couple days.

 

humm any idea of where i can order that? Dave B?? its been going on for a while now, sometimes more than others. how hard is it to replace this??

 

Yeah Dave B. would be able to get you the replacement kit I'm pretty sure. Most auto stores also have them in stock, just depends on if you want OEM vs aftermarket.

If its been going a while there is a possibility that your joint will go bad soon from debri/moisture getting up in there.
http://www.motorvate.ca/mvp.php/401
There is a write up of taking one out and cleaning them, then reinstalling it.

 

Depending on how many miles you have. ie.. over 50,000, just buy BOTH sides from a quality autostore. ie.. napa. Do both. If one side is done, the other isn't far behind. Saves you from doing this messy job twice and draining the tranny fluid more than one time

 

yeah ur boots are gone. Get a mechanic to check and see if you need new cv joint or bearings as well.

 

Change out your axles. Don't bother with just the boot.

 

i've been reading CV boots and axles since i got confirmed that it was the CV in the previous posts. is this process hard? most say unless i have clicking im fine, i dont have that problem yet, but i'd rather pay more for a faster/clean work (as i would be using my friends garage) Autozone would have a replacement axle? or is raxles.com better? any idea about the cost? "how-to" on replacing the axle for a maxima? i'm ok mechanical wise, i can follow directions fairly well (better with pics). This may be the cause of my wheels sliding in one direction when going over bumps.... (

btw i the girl in your avatar, the "import model" wow, very cute. haha who was she there for?

 

Get Raxles man, everyone here loves them, and from what I hear they are almost works of art. I have not had luck with autozone replacements, and keep in mind, Autozone= refurbished/rebuilt Raxles= brand-spanking new axle for only $30 more or so, and you will never have to replace them again. Do it once, and do it right

 

yup, the oil/grease is from your axle.

do it right the first time and change the whole axle. get raxles like everyone say.

 

if i only do one side (replacing the entire axle, do i still have to drain the tranny oil and such? or is it just a pull out and install the new one without the drain or any other liquid?

 

Get Raxles or don't bother.

 

Also, just because there aren't any noises, doesn't mean the axle is alright, sometimes **** just happens.





This axle only had a tiny tear in the boot, didn't really throw out grease anywhere, no noises, just one day...boom, literally.

Launched the car and the boot exploded (you can see the clamp flew off) and grease went everywhere. That support cage above snapped. Still waiting on the raxle to replace it...

 

COnfirmed: bad boot / CV bearing.

NEVER do ONLY one side of the boots/axle bearings: ALWAYS do both, regardless.
The Axle shaft(s) has to be removed to replace either one, so you might as well do it right the first time.....Kinda like replacing the water-pump when you change a timing-belt, in hondas or toyotas.

YOu DO NOT have to change the tranny fluid when you do this.

Unless you are VERY good with a wrench, and know what you're doing -- I would NOT recommend you tackle this task yourself. If you have to ask what the malody is....then I'd say you aren't qualified to fix it. --no offense.

YOu defintely need to fix this soon....don't drive on a shot bearing like this. You are risking further and more expensive driveline damage.

gr

**Nice pics BTW!**

 

I agree wit ghostrider..I changed both of mines about 3 months ago ..You need a lift just to make it easy to acess and work the passenger axle..It will cost as much rebuilding than buying them brand new..I got charge $40 each to install..

 

no offense taken, haha i kind of knew it had something to do with the CV boot when i took the pics. I asked about the tranny cause i've done that before with a friend and would prefer not to do it again. haha cool. I'll be ordering my parts soon. thanks for all the advice.

Does anyone have a how to on replacing it? there seems to be a lot of people replacing the axles and such, so would anyone have some pictures or anything? I want to do all my research before i start this thing.

 

you didn't tell him that it snapped while launching at the track, lol....

anyhow, get Raxles.

read: http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....ghlight=raxles

pretty...

 

any chance you have a simple how to of some sort that is specific to the 5th gen max? I'm going to order mine on monday when they open.

 

I don't know about an auto but if you pull the axle out of a manual car the fluid will spill right out. You may as well replace it with new fluid since you have to drain it anyway.

I think this is a great starter project for someone wanting to start working on cars. Especialy if he has help and tools.

I've rebuilt the axles with new boots and it's very messy and not fun. Replacing them is much easier.

 

here's my how-to tip: make sure you drain ALL of the manual tranny fluid out before pulling the axles, otherwise it will spill all over your driveway/garage, and there's pretty much nothing that can get it off.

don't ask me how I know this.....it ranks up there in the "stupid things I've done while working on cars in my lifetime" list...

 

would it apply for auto?

 

No, auto does not have to be drained for either side.

Just make sure the vehicle is level.

....but then again unless you're only jacking up one side to do the work (which btw is VERY stupid when doing axles), then why would the car NOT be level?

 

the fluid level is higher then the where the axle goes into the tranny or w/e so thats why it leaks when you take it out (atleast on MT). Depending on your car and condition and where you live this can go from easy to tough.

Remove wheel(s)
Remove center bolt holding shaft in
Usually using a rubber mallet u need to try and free the shaft from the spindle

Now its just a matter of getting the hub out of the way.
The easiest way to do it is to unbolt the tie rod and strut, possibly the balljoint. You can probably do it just by unbolting EITHER the tie rod or the ball joint, I dont think I had to do both but I dont recall which one it was. The strut is a must.

Now you will hopefully be able to just slide it out. It looks like thats your driver side which will be ALOT easier then the passenger. The passenger side actually has more to do to get it out. There is some sort of support that holds the shaft up about half way down it and its a PITA to get the shaft out of depending on the condition and whatnot. The first time we broke the ears of the shaft where it connects and the 2nd was a little easier because it had only been in there for a month or 2.

Also spend the extra $30 and get a quality shaft. DO NOT go to autozone or whatnot because every shaft I got from them were wrong and only a hair to thin causing a leak which may have been over looked by someone not working in a repair shop.

 

^^^
Excellent writeup.

I was able to get the axle out by unbolting the axle nut, unbolting the ball joint and sway bar endlink, and dropping the LCA as far down as it can go. Once the sway bar endlink is removed, the LCA will rotate down really far. Didn't feel like messing with the outer tie rod ends.

 

ya that does sound like a good way to do it. generally as long as you dont adjust or change your outter tie rods you have nothing to worry about but ya if you want to completely ignore that you can go that route. I'm used to doing most cars the same way over and over and dropping the LCA on some cars can be a PITA so this is just a standard way of doing it.