My car was recently making a rubbing noise from the front right ball joint cover, which my mechanic said was no problem--just noise. BUT last night, after some serious racing, the noise changed and got worse.

When I stopped and checked it out, there were PARTS MISSING and GREASE EVERYWHERE! Basically, on the bar that goes from the wheel to the axle, the round rubber piece in the middle is gone, and the rubber piece that covers the ball joint is missing the metal tie that holds it to the bar (I hope this makes sense, I'm sorry I don't know the technical terms). There is grease splattered everwhere from the ball joint cover.

Do I just need to replace the parts? Is it possible that I damaged anything else? How could this have possibly happened? Anyone ever have simillar problems?

Any input would be MUCH APPRECIATED.
Thanks,
Daniel

 

he could have prevented all of this hassle..

 

Yeah, seriously. I'm gonna kick some *** tomarow. This Sh*t always happens to me on a sunday for some reason. Go figure.

 

I agree, i think by what you described, it sounds like you broke a cv boot or joint...well i know what you mean. That happend to me, and the joint broke and somehow it punctured a hole in the transmission.
So get it fixed and good luck with all of this.

 

Yeah, the CV BOOT (i couldn't remember before). That sucks about your car. Do you know how much it cost to replace the cv boot?

Also, I forgot to mention that my car has been in an accident, where the front right end got messed up. My friend suggested that the bar may have been slightly bent and going high speeds for a long time may have just heated and popped off the metal tie. Is this possible, and can I just replace the tie?

Thanks for the info.

 

If you take it into a shop, it should be less than $80 to change the boot alone. that is if any of the bearings or anything else fell off or is damaged. If you want to change the boot yourself, part is about $15. Not sure how much a new cv shaft would be for a maxima, but on my old car...a honduh, it was also around $80. if i were you, i'd just buy a whole brand new cv joint, and change it yourself. it's not that hard really, and you'll have the peace of mind that you're running on a new cv shaft that is not bent.
let me know if you need more info, I have changed a few cv shafts, and once even changed the boot. it was harder to change the boot alone because you had to take out the shaft, but instead of just shoving in a new shaft, you have to actually take apart all the bearings and stuff.
let me know if you need more info.
btw...if you do tackle it yourself, don't forget to take out the abs sensor if you have one.

just my 2¢

 

What kanaka said sounds about how much i had to pay for mine. What I did tough was buy a whole new axle for my car. I think it cost around 80-140 dollars, but that was for the whole axle. If you have the cv boot repack (grease, brearings, boot, strap)it would cost you around what Kanaka mentioned, because I also had to do this. But that wasn't on my Maxima, so i would hope that it is some where around that price range. Also I took an Auto class at school and my instructor said that as long as there isn't too much grease that spilled out of there, you can repack it. I believe repack is the term they use. Otherwise it's probably a good a idea to get a new cv joint. As far as the other stuff you mentioned I don't understand what you mean by tie. Do you have pics by any chance? Good luck with everything.

 

What about your warranty, do you still have one take it in, let them fix it, thats why you have one(warranty).........Bernie

 

I'm going to take my car in today or tomarow. I think I will probably get a whole new cv joint, but I don't know that I will install it myself. I'm not that mechanically inclined (The only thing i've done before is install my intake). How hard is it to install? I do have acces to lots of tools.

Oh, and Menacer, I don't have a digi camera, but when I say tie, I mean the metal band that holds the boot to the shaft and the grease in. I don't know about repacking, but I think most of the grease is long gone because the night that this broke, I was driving at 100+ for long periods of time.

Bernie, nope. No warranty. If I did the nissan f*cks would be working on it right now.

Thank you all for the input. I'll post when I sort this all out.

 

Ok, so the cv boot is busted and bent out of shape. This is how the grease got out. Apparently the metal tie is still there though--I just couldn't see it before because of the grease. We looked at the shaft, the tranny mounts, etc...and everything seems ok except for the cv joint and boot.

The mechanic is out tomarow so I wont get my car back until wednesday. But it's all good so long as its fixed and it doesn't cost too much.

I was thinking about possible causes for this mess, and I have a theory. The way the boot is bent it looks like it was melted. I was thinking that if there was friction in the joint (i.e. bent or undergreased) then at sustained high speeds it could have heated up and melted the boot.
One time not too long ago I was racing a Lincoln LS for 20-30 minutes at 130 bouncing off my limiter and never once slowing down (He was doing 140 bouncing off of his but he slowed down a few times to get through other cars)(Oh, he won by the way but I schooled him when traffic got dense ). If anything melted the boot, this did! Does this make sense?

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Dan4614
[B]

I'm going to take my car in today or tomarow. I think I will probably get a whole new cv joint, but I don't know that I will install it myself. I'm not that mechanically inclined (The only thing i've done before is install my intake). How hard is it to install? I do have acces to lots of tools.

here's how i changed it on my old accord:
Put blocks under back tires to keep car from rolling away
Jack up front end and take off tire
disconnect ABS sensor if you have one...tuck it out of the way so it won't break
remove center nut holding brake rotor to shaft(may need to push a piece of metal out if it's one of those nuts with the indentation to keep it from backing out. or maybe a cotter pin? not sure on the max. The center nut should be somewhere between 18mm to 24mm. think my accord was 22mm.
take off brake callipers and hang it up out of the way with tie wire or some heavy cord/string.
take off brake rotor
remove lower ball joint
you may be able to pull the center shaft out of the front bearing(which was right behind the brake rotor) now. if not, you may have to separate the tie rod end (steering arm)using a pickle fork or hammer. if it still doesn't come out you may have to separate the upper ball joint. you want to remove as little of these components as possible, but you still need enough play to pull the shaft out of the bearing.
now that the outter end of the shaft is out, here comes the tricky part...it took me a while to figure it out, but it's simple really.
to get the end out of the transmission, you can first try to pry it out with 2 large screwdrivers. just wedge them between the transmission housing and the end joint of the shaft and push them apart. if they are stuck in there, you can use an impact hammer if you have one, or use an improvised one. get a long piece of heavy tie wire...like 20 feet or so. Double it so it's 10 feet long. fish the wire around the end of the shaft between the housing and inner joint housing (which is where you were trying to pry with screwdrivers). just wrap the wire around the shaft and pull both (doubled) ends out to the side of the car. tie the ends together. you now have a loop of wire that will not stretch and will transmit most of the shock to the joint to break it loose. put a piece of wood inside of the loop. get a sledge hammer or big rock and hit the wood from inside of the loop so that it pulls the shaft out of the transmission. you don't need to hit hard...just firmly.
as soon as it pops out, fluid will leak out. plug it with a rag.
make sure the old shaft and new shaft are the same length, teeth match up, etc. The size of the joint housings may be bigger or smaller, but that's not important, the length however IS.
pull out the rag, shove the new joint into the transmission and make sure it clicks into place.
shove the outter end into the bearing.(this would be a good time to change the bearing if it needs changing. new one should be around $20 and just take it to a machine shop to press out)
Put everything back including your NEW CROSS DRILLED ROTORS that you bought with the money you saved by doing this job yourself. If fluid leaked out, you need to fill your transmission fluid.
Hope it helps
kanaka

 

Hey Kanaka where you from in Kaneohe, I am from Kahaluu?

 

Kanaka,
Thank you SO much for all your help. I now understand what to do (the description was great), but I'm soooooo scared to do it myself. Like I said, I'm not the greatest mechanic. I feel like I could do it but I think I will have it done professionally for a few reasons. 1) If it gets f*cked up, I have someone to blame. 2) I have hook ups at a good shop that gives me great labor prices ($80 last time for two hrs). 3) If I mess it up and something comes loose or breaks at high speeds I will Die! (Personally, this bothers me the most).

I should have this all figured out by wednesday, and I'll be back on the road in no time.

Thanks again for all your help,

Daniel

 

Hey Circo. I live over by Kapunahala side.

Dan-good luck with your car. You're welcome for the help. you're lucky you have friends who'll help you out. i would think it would usually cost $200 or more just for labor...i'm guessing. And yes, the extra money is worth the peace of mind.