So, I was doing a passenger side axle replacement recently, and learned a few things...
I was told by two mechanics, and one dealer that it's normal for air to pass back and forth through the large side that's clamped on the inner CV joint. And, it's normal for a small bit of grease to escape. I had a hard time believing that! But I'm certain that it's true -- this probably keeps the boot from exploding as the CV joint moves in all directions!
Also, over time, the grease breaks down into a thinner consistency, so that more begins to escape around the boot. In addition, after 135k miles, mine accumulated around the engine to look like I had a boot failure of some sort. I took the boot off, and there was still a lot of grease in there - but maybe it was thinned out.
I heard a lot of people with grease patterns around the engine say that they don't see any boot failure; and other folks respond to say that the boot MUST BE coming completely off the axle, or that it's just very hard to see the hole on the boot. I think most of the time, it's just normal seepage that I've explained. I'm betting that way too many people are doing boot repairs, or getting new axles when it's not necessary.
My drivers side axle also has grease around it, and needs further inspection. I was developing a slight clicking sound (not sure from where), so I assumed that one of my axles was going bad. Maybe. But, maybe it's something else -- I'm still chasing it down. I just finished the passenger axle last night, and will see if that fixed the clicking. If I had no clicking sounds and had known about the normal boot seepage, then I would have just cleaned up the mess around the engine and kept an eye on it. We'll see -- still chasing it down!
[Keep in mind, I do most things with OEM parts, and decided against after-market axles.]
I was told by two mechanics, and one dealer that it's normal for air to pass back and forth through the large side that's clamped on the inner CV joint. And, it's normal for a small bit of grease to escape. I had a hard time believing that! But I'm certain that it's true -- this probably keeps the boot from exploding as the CV joint moves in all directions!
Also, over time, the grease breaks down into a thinner consistency, so that more begins to escape around the boot. In addition, after 135k miles, mine accumulated around the engine to look like I had a boot failure of some sort. I took the boot off, and there was still a lot of grease in there - but maybe it was thinned out.
I heard a lot of people with grease patterns around the engine say that they don't see any boot failure; and other folks respond to say that the boot MUST BE coming completely off the axle, or that it's just very hard to see the hole on the boot. I think most of the time, it's just normal seepage that I've explained. I'm betting that way too many people are doing boot repairs, or getting new axles when it's not necessary.
My drivers side axle also has grease around it, and needs further inspection. I was developing a slight clicking sound (not sure from where), so I assumed that one of my axles was going bad. Maybe. But, maybe it's something else -- I'm still chasing it down. I just finished the passenger axle last night, and will see if that fixed the clicking. If I had no clicking sounds and had known about the normal boot seepage, then I would have just cleaned up the mess around the engine and kept an eye on it. We'll see -- still chasing it down!
[Keep in mind, I do most things with OEM parts, and decided against after-market axles.]