Hope the Easter Bunny brings you all lots of Eggs. I searched for problems on CV joints and CV joint boot problems and could only find rear engine cover Boot problems. (Forgive me if this is al ready known - So adding this )
Many years ago i had a mysterious and spectacular engine bay oil leak which sent a plume of smoke out the back . It was a momentary … I wont bore you with the story , but suffice to say the source of the oil leak was never found. a year or so later ( im lucky if I travel more than 1500 miles a year) A slight vibration in the rear of the car was felt and worsened to the point where i though the car was going to break in half . It wasnt engine mounts it was a failed inner CV joint on the long shaft ( sorry cant remember if o/s n/s)
Simples - the spectacular oil smoke screen was casued by the CV boot splitting and dumping ( most?) of its contents as a direct shot onto the exhaust below then burning it off … Then CV joint failure then occured within say 1500 2000 miles .
The reason i mention this is because the failed CV joint was hard to spot , on my piddly ramps at home. The car had to be on a proper lift and excessive tugging to get movement . The grease had long gone and with the general dirt in the area wasnt immediatly obvious ( to me )
Having found the CV joint failed - its was then in hind sight easy to spot heavy grease splat witness marks in the area to confirm where the smoke cloud originated from .
So please do check you CV boot gaiters at your next service - make sure they are nice and soft and “rare” , not “well done” . Mine on the long shaft are directly above the exhaust with probably an inch gap … fab design :0) so the CV gaiter boot slowly cooked and hardened then cracked … My old banger chassis has now covered 55k miles … its always had the full Janspeed system since birth .
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All the above happened over a 3 year period and now the cars been good for 2 years … 3K miles , so i know its a proper fix. Next job is a bit of heat wrap round the exhaust in the CV area.
Cheers Everyone and hope it helps .
PS would be nice if we didnt get so hung up on prices - dont worry - as soon as the housing interest rates go up, prices on all cars will fill fall like bricks back to the reaches of the true enthusiast . People have short memories… remember the 80’s and negative equities … in houses ( and in cars!! ) or at least reasearch if you were lucky enough to still be a Wink in your parents eyes… :0) The truth is out there…
