CV joints worn out!

Well, I seem to have discovered the lifespan for original OEM Honda CV
joints if you never let the boots split: It's about 264,000 miles.

My left outer CV joint is making a heavy click/clunk noise when
accelerating in a tight right-hand turn. In addition, an inner joint is
causing vibration when accelerating in a straight line. My mechanic can't
tell which inner is worn yet.

Two new shafts are going in next week (about $160 Cdn each). They will be
(apparently) decent-quality aftermarket, since new OEM is shockingly
expensive. The new shafts will have new outer CV joints, not remanufactured
used ones. The new joints are made in Germany, manufacturer as yet unknown
to me.

 

Working on my '83 Honda FE project, I have discovered that Honda
original equipment is pretty high quality. Most of the problems
encountered have been the result of someone not being through in their
replacement or damaged due to the car sitting for about a dozen years.

I'm still sorting out the sensors and vacuum lines and have resolved all
but a few items. One that is driving me nutz is two unused leads that
should go to a sensor in the head next to the thermostat housing. I
suspect that it is some sort of temperature interlock but...

JT

(Not looking forward to a trip to the local Honda dealership)

 

As with the clutch, you did far better than most.

Frank

 

If you're doing this yourself, I for one would find
photographs and a description educational.

Otherwise, photos of new parts prior to installation and old
ones afterward would be welcome.

 

I'm not. No time. It would have made a nice additon to the FAQ, that's for
sure.

Photos of the old parts I can do. I'll get my guy to save them for me. I'd
love to see what exactly it is that's making the noise. Maybe I can make up
a page like I did for the clutch disc.

My mechanic did tell me that the major problem he's found with new
aftermarket CV joints isn't the joint itself, but the boots. He says their
quality is extremely variable, and they may last six months or six years.
Almost all of the failures he's seen are due to only two things:
1) Boot split and nobody noticed, and
2) Poorly remanufactured used joints.

He gets very few failures of new aftermarket joints where the boot didn't
split first. This is the primary reason I decided to go with it. Since I
change my oil every 1.5 months, I would catch boot-splitting early.

 

And all I did was make sure the boots never split. As soon as cracking was
observed, the boots were changed. That's all ANYONE needs to do who still
has original outer CV joints.

My mechanic says he can't remember ever having seen a Honda OEM outer CV
joint failure that wasn't preceded by a split boot. Mine is the first he's
seen that's due solely to mileage.

 

Yes, that would be terrific. CV joints come up here a lot,
as you know. And of course for selfish reasons I'm
anticipating my 91 Civic's dying and wondering how much I
can do on my own, for fun and so I can put the money saved
towards other things.

Shoot this would be a fascinating discussion if there were
enough documentation.

Doesn't your web site promote keeping the boots intact as
the first line of defense to preserving joints?

If not, from memory plenty here mention this.

 

Yes indeedy. That is the key. Mine are the first my mechanic has ever seen
that wore out strictly from metal fatigue, and not dirt/water ingress due
to split boots.

Anyway, I got pics yesterday!
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/misc/worn_cv-joint/

What has happened here is that two of the six balls had failed from metal
fatigue. These balls are about 3/4" in diameter, and carry all the load
transmitted by the joints. The hardened outer layer had spalled off in
pieces into the races. Those pieces had then damaged the races by being
pressed into them as the joint turned and rotated. Most of the damage was
done to the inner race. Only one spot was found on the outer race, that
pointed out by the yellow arrow.

Now that I've had time to consider this, the noise started over a year ago,
but I couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. It appeared to be random
for the longest time, becoming more consistent only very recently, and
becoming quite loud only in the last couple of weeks.

I would say the joint began making noise at about 240,000 miles, so I've
been driving with a worn outer joint for 25,000 miles.

---------

Ultimately, it turns out my car had three layers of problems, none of which
were particularly serious in themselves, but when taken together
substantially reduced driving enjoyment. When one layer was removed, it
exposed the other.

1) Badly mounted tires causing vibration at speed. The poor mounting job
was obvious when tires were spun by hand and observed. My guy fixed that,
and that vibration was gone, but another surfaced...

2) Worn CV joints. The inners were causing a vibration on acceleration, as
well as steering wheel wobble on acceleration from a standstill. The
driver's side outer's balls were spalling from metal fatigue, and were
clunking badly through tight right turns. Replacement of the shafts fixed
that, but now a third vibration was evident, this one *much* less intense
than the others...

3) Possible injector problem. My mechanic suspects that the injectors are
worn to the point that they are not all metering the exact same amount of
fuel with each pulse. Ordinarily, this is not noticeable, but similarly to
tires or the exhaust system, a vibration manifests at a specific resonance
point in the engine's operating range. That spot is around 3,500-4,000 RPM.
When you lift off the pedal, the injectors shut off and the vibration goes
away. When you press on the pedal again, the injectors turn on, and the
vibration reappears. It's very slight, and feels more like harshness rather
than a vibration.

The third item is still subject to confirmation, but the engine mounts have
been ruled out, as have compression and ignition variance between
combustion chambers.

That third item may also account for two other things that have recently
arisen:
1) A slightly elevated CO reading at the last emissions test, indicating
excess mixture richness.
2) Fuel dilution of the engine's oil, as found in an oil analysis I just
had done. This dilution has resulted in slightly elevated piston wear.
3) Gas mileage is still around 28mpg, where it's been for years, so either
this problem has been around for a long time, or it's small enough that
it's not affecting mileage.

New injectors are almost $300 each, so some more research will have to be
done here.

Stay tuned...

 

wow, impressive! as you say, hardly any joint ever gets to this stage.

it's only the cheapo carbon bearing balls that have a hardened outer
layer - high quality chrome bearing balls are through hardened, as would
be the case here. the chrome balls still spall, but it takes longer.

it's interesting that only two balls show damage. if it were pure high
mileage, i would expect all be in pretty much the same condition, but
since the boots have been replaced, it's likely that a small piece of
grit was included one time, and the tiny surface damage it caused
nucleated the surface spalling, which then of course spreads like wildfire.

have they been changed? you'd be surprised how bad mounts can actually
be once you can actually see what's going on.

this all ties in with the injector theory. poor spray pattern can
seriously affect droplet size and therefore vaporization, mixing &
combustion. the injectors honda use are usually good for pretty high
mileage though. be more generous with the injector cleaner for a few
tanks and see if it makes any difference. gasoline quality /sucks/
right now, and injector fouling is a /real/ issue on my dpfi civic.

check into the aftermarket stuff.
www.summitracing.com/landing/sportcompact/

 

snip for brevity, but all commentary read.

Wonderful, dead-on perfect selection of photos. Your
description is clear and well-written.

I had to open my Chilton's manual and go to Majestic for
exploded views to put all the photos completely together in
my mind. Way cool (as the kids say).

Thank you sir!

 

It was fun.

I'm just a bit disappointed we didn't get around to pulling the inners
apart. The shafts had to go back to the suppliers to get the core charge
back, so we don't have them any more.

 

Well, I can think of lots of instances where one thing wears but another
doesn't when both have seen the same service.

It's possible, but again my guy insists it's metal fatigue.

My guy has thirty years of day-in-day-out, 8 hours a day or more, hands-on
with Japanese cars. He assures me my mounts are quite certainly tickety-
boo. NO problems of any kind. In fact, he says I must be a pretty gentle
driver, as thay are in exceptionally good shape for their age.

I'm getting a Motorvac servie tomorrow morning. It's a lot more intense and
effective than running a bottle of Techron through your gas tank.

I spoke at length to my guy about the injectors, and he says OEM Honda ones
rarely wear out. When they go bad, it's usually the electrical component.
And when that happens, you ordinarily get other driveability problems as
well. Because of this, right now he suspects they're just a little gummed
up from age.

Last month, I used 76.06 gallons to travel 2,151.25 miles. That's 28.28
mpg. Pretty good for 265,000 miles. Whatever's wrong with the injectors is
not very severe, just enough to cause an imbalance at the engine's
resonance point.

 

so can i, but balls in the same c.v. cage are not on that list!

spalling /is/ a manifestation of fatigue.

is this the same guy that assured you that the rear trailing arm
bushings didn't matter? trust me on this one tegger, if these are the
original bushings, they're shot. take the rear one out and inspect it.
i /guarantee/ it's torn right through.

i second that.