[Vwdiesel] odd CV failure

[Val Christian]

This is mostly anecdotal.  I've had CVs make noise for over 100K and
taken them apart, cleaned, lubed, inspected, and found nothing
observable wrong.  I have heard of CV joints catastrophically
failing with no notice.  VW, Dodge, Chevy.  

My take is that nothing on cars is assured, and CV joints are proof.

I'm glad you were able to make quick work of it.  It helps to keep
the bolts on the axle flange unstuck, just for moments like 
your friend had.

BTW, I had a CV rusted inside, with water in the boot, and it still
worked.  I never tested it to see how much longer.  A replacement is
cheap compared to a problem on the road.

Val

> 
> Last night, I got to go to the rescue of a friend (the guy that towed 
> the Caddy across the South).  He was supposed to drop by my house, but 
> called me minutes later to say that his A2 NA Jetta  wasn't moving.  
> He'd just replaced the driver's side half axle a week ago and so my 
> immediate thought was that he'd gotten a bad joint.  I loaded up my 
> tools and drove to Ft. Worth where he was out in the parking lot of his 
> office.  He thought the driver's side was OK, so I grabbed the passenger 
> side axle, and there was no physical connection between the axle and the 
> wheel.  The outer joint was completely broken.  The really weird part 
> was that the boot was completely intact.  It was old so the axle had 
> been on there quite some time.  While I did find that my outer joint was 
> cracked just recently, at least the boot had split in a couple of places 
> and there was a reasonable chain of events involving a terrible rebuilt 
> joint and a bit of water introduction.  My friend claimed to have just 
> heard the joint making noise that morning and total failure that night.  
> (He can be a little oblivious.).  I picked up a new half axle, we got it 
> installed, and as far as I know, he made it back home, but I just 
> thought I'd share that odd failure.  Or at least odd to me. 
> 
> -Shalyn
> 
> 
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