All FWD (front-wheel-drive) vehicles will have CV joints at the ends of the drive shaft. There are two basic types of joints; the ball type joint used for the outer CV joint and the tripod type joint used for the inner CV joint.
These critically important mechanical items are elements of your car’s suspension system that allow you to drive your car down the road in comfort and with ease. When any part of your inboard or outboard CV joint goes bad, you’ll experience CV joint noise when driving straight or negotiating turns in your car.
This fault makes your handling very uncomfortable and difficult. Keep reading to find out likely what caused your bad CV joint so you can perform a fault inspection.
We’ll let you know how to make repairs if you have to change your boots or replace your entire CV axle.
What Causes Cv Joint Noise When Driving Straight?
When you hear a noise from the CV joint while driving straight or making rough turns, it indicates a defective joint, but not entirely a damaged one, as several things can affect the performance of your joints. Here are some of the reasons your joint is making that squeaky noises;
#1. Faulty CV boots.
One of the most frequent problems bothering your CV joints are those variations in your boots, either they are broken, cracked, or just torn.
With broken boots, grease will leak out through the boot and this, will lead to dirt accreting on your joint, causing it to wear out a lot more quickly, and may even fail to work due to a lack of lubrication and corrosion permeating your joint.
Another concern is when the CV joint itself is contaminated by debris, and this also gradually destroys your joint.
The sight of grease coming out from your CV boot through a tear or a crack informs you of a broken boot or CV joint and you will certainly see grease within the interior surface of your wheel rim, and on the drive wheel area inside your wheel should the damage be serious.
The leakage can get into various parts of your vehicle as your CV axle is revolving, even into your chassis. All these causes CV joint noise when accelerating while in motion, or if making sharp bends.
If you drive at high speed whilst taking such turns, your CV joint can be seriously damaged.
#2. Damaged boot camps.
Your CV boots are held in place by boot camps. These clamps ensure the boots are well sealed and are not exposed to your CV joint.
Having damaged boot camps will lead to your CV boot loosening up, leading to the accumulation of debris into your CV joint.
This will have an effect of causing an inner CV joint clunk that will later lead to the production of noises from the CV joint when you drive your vehicle.
Therefore, if you encounter any clunking or squeaky sound from the area of your joint, the first thing to do is checking your boot, the entire boot and clamps.
#3. Loss of lubrication.
When your CV joints are not well lubricated, the friction will increase and prevent your CV axle from rotating freely. If your CV joints are not lubricated enough, the same will cause them to make a noise whenever the axle starts to turn.
This means that you will notice an inner CV joint noise from your vehicle each time you drive your car. It gets louder when navigated through whilst at speed. You may not hear the noise only when you drive at a low speed.
#4. Aging.
The axles used for a very long time are likely to cause a steering noise or noise from their joints.
You will experience this because the joints are all worn out and due for a replacement. This is a very normal case as every mechanical component will always need replacement with time. They may not be strong but not forever.
How To Fix Cv Joint Noise When Driving Straight?
Driving with a defective CV joint can put you in dangerous situations that you need to avoid. As soon as you notice any of the symptoms that indicate your car’s CV joint is defective, you need to attend to it immediately.
Read previous articles to learn how to tell which CV joint is bad. When you know these signs or symptoms, you will always catch a faulty CV joint early enough, which will save you from costly repairs.
A messed up boot is mostly the cause of a damaged CV joint. If you notice that your car has a faulty CV joint boot on time before it gets to your joint, then just change out your boot and grease your CV joint with quality lubricants.
There’s no need to change out your entire axle or joint. CV boot is not expensive, and it is not a very expensive component to purchase. New automobile CV joint boot always come with brand-new clamps and quality grease.
If you do not know how to change that yourself, you will have to pay a mechanic labor fee to help you out. But in a situation where the CV joint of your car is ruined, you have to get that gawdy replaced.
That’s because, a damaged CV screw cannot be manage or repaired. You may not be able to get a single screw. You may have to buy the whole driveshaft.If this is your case, we will help you save labor costs by showing how you can fix your CV joint to stop that noise from getting to your nerves:
You need to put on your safety kit for this repair. This was a point we always stress when talking about the automobile repairs. Once your gear is on, pull your mechanical tools box closer and turn your lug nuts about a quarter before you raise your vehicle off the ground.
Most vehicles have an axle nut right on the center of their wheels, so you need to take that off first before you remove your lug nuts; check if this is the case for your wheel. To do this, you need to take off the cotter pin from your axle nut, that is, if yours has one.
The cotter pin looks like a bobby-pin with folded back ends to keep it in its position. You will have to straighten your pin’s bent ends using a plier; this will help you take if off in quick time.
If the cotter pin still want to come off, then you will need to apply lubricant to ease you as you yank it off.
Once you by-pass your cotter pin, you can now take off your axle nut. Please note that going off your axle nut first before you raise your vehicle is a much safer measure. Usually the axle nut size of vehicles differ.Make sure you have a variety of socket sizes. That gives you the best chances of getting it right.
It’s now time to raise your car. Do so either using a lift, or jack. Either are fine, just ensure you know how to use either one properly.
If you are using a jack, consult your vehicle’s manufacturer’s user manual.” and find where is the best position to place your jack. Otherwise, you may make a wrong placement. Always set your vehicle to park, and engage your brake before lifting your vehicle. And after lifting, always put your car on your jack stands.
Let’s assume you want to lift your car using a car lift; that is just a more straightforward approach. That too, you should confirm the best position a lift adopts to be fixed from your manufacturer’s user manual. You don’t want to make a wrong placement as well.
Now set. Take off your lug nuts completely, and remove your wheels. Use a proper work light to help you see under your car.
With the wheels off, you would come to see your brake rotor, and caliper. Your brake caliper housing is a fairly large assembly fixed on it, from the outer side of your rotor.
The brake caliper is held to your rotor by mounting bolts, and are both in a bracket. Arrangement varies, depending on vehicle model. Your brake caliper will be lining from brake line, and, therefore, you need to lock it into position, instead of letting it hang.Hang the caliper out of the way with a short cord. This way, it is not putting tension on your brake line.
Should your brake line get detached from the brake caliper, there will be a flow of brake fluid from the line. You will have to start the whole process of bleeding your brakes.
Time to detach the tie rod from your steering knuckle. Your outer tie rod is usually fixed to the steering knuckle and its nieghbor is back for you by the rotor.
This bolt has a cotter pin sometimes like the axle nut. Use some penetrating lubricant on it if it is resistant to coming off. The tie rod can be hard to come off even after you have removed the bolts.
Hit (gently) on the steering knuckle where the tie rod passes through (not the threaded part) to remove it.
Take the hub from the strut tower next. There are usually a couple of bolts fixed to your hub and strut tower together. Immediately you take the bolts off, you will see that the other side of the hub, the piece it goes to is attached to the other side and linked to your axle only through the hole in the middle. You should be able to take it off easily now.Note that you would have to hold your bolt’s head properly while turning the nut. If not, it won’t unscrew.
Use a prying-bar or screwdriver to pry into your CV joint. You need to move towards the back of your axle and you would see the place it is attached to the transmission.
Try turning the pry bar and force the seal to brake if your axle does not easily come off. You might observe some transmission fluid gushing out as you remove your axle; it is alright. Place a can under the leakage.
You will need to trail the axle through the wishbone properly before you can take it out completely for most cars. This band on your inner boot also helps the axle to free easily.
Place the new CV axle into the housing of your transmission in the same manner you took out the old one.
You can make use of a CV joint boot clamp tool to facilitate the placing of your new axle into the same location. This tool is really convenient when it comes to CV boot clamp tightening process.
You would hear the small c-clip snap of the new axle when it placed correctly in position. You should make use of a mallet, preferably made of rubber to bang the axle into position if your axle is difficult to fix.
Now you would have to put the axle into hub’s assembly center. Place back the assemblies just the same way you took it out. You can start with your hub assembly and move to your strut tower.
Make sure you tightened all the loose bolts. Place back the outer tie rod into your steering knuckle, and then your brake caliper. If any of your cotter pin looks bad, please replace them.
Place back your wheel and your lug nuts; tighten it a little. You can then lower your vehicle till it touches the ground. Remove the jack stands before lowering. When your car hit the floor, tighten your axle and lug nuts.
There is a need for you to learn to spot the difference between a lousy wheel-bearing bad CV joint before performing any form of repairs on your CV joint. We can assist you to do that.
FAQs.
Q: Can a bad CV joint sound like a bearing?
Much less frequently, this occurs from unevenly worn tires. Bearing sounds are growling, squealing and chirping sounds.
You can get this confused with a bad CV joint sound defined as a clicking, humming or growling noise.
Q: What does a bad CV joint sound like?
A bad CV can sound like a loud click, popping or clunk as it gets worse. Frequent brakes noise at low speed (from damage to the outer CV joints) also makes a grinding noises making a tight turn at a slow rate. Bad CV joint also makes a vibration that is felt in the steering wheel and floorboard of the car.
A worn CV joint also makes clunking noises from going from drive to reverse; these noises are generally deafening when accelerating in the turns.
You may hear cracks or breaks sounds in the rubber or plastic boots around the CV joint. The car may also shake or shudder when accelerating heavily.
Q: Is it safe to drive with a clicking CV joint?
Yes, in a way. Clicking or popping sounds are terrible indicators that the CV is a badly worn joint. It is possible to drive with cv a worn joint and still maneuver around. There are no guarantees that it is safe or it will last for long periods of time.
The worst scenario is failure of the CV joint, breaking the axle; and finally, your car won’t move. This sound generally signifies a damaged CV joint and explains why it was possibly able to travel around with a bad CV for a while.
It isn’t entirely safe and you should know; driving with a noisy CV joint; means that you run the chance of damaging the entirety of the joint. Therefore, you should know how to test CV joints.
Q: How long will a CV joint last once it starts making noise?
It might be okay to drive with a bad CV joint for a period of four to five months or a little more than that.
When the six months period approaches, you should have the part replaced or repaired at a mechanic shop. It is not advisable or safe to continue driving your car with a bad or worn CV joint beyond six months.
For you that live in dry areas where it doesn’t rain much, this six month period might certainly be safe for you, but for those who live in wet areas, know how to check CV joint for play shouldn’t be an option.
With a lot of sticky mud, rain, dirt, and perhaps snow, it would be best to know how do this by yourself, if you don’t know how, visit a mechanic before this time runs out; at least the first three months.
Q. What might signal that my car has a tire noise or a wheel bearing?
A known symptom of a bad wheel bearing is that it is very audible. You hear a grating noise or grinding sound from your car’s wheel or tire, more often than not (bad wheel bearing).
Usually, this noise seems to get louder as your car proceeds. Most times, the growling or rumbling of a bad wheel bearing passes for cruising worn tires (and, mistake), in other instances, the bad wheel bearing creates a squealing sound, or high pitch grinding noise corresponding to tires’ rotation.
Such noise or sound gets louder when you take the car around corners, and told isn’t a wheel-bearing noise, but usually, when you make turns towards the direction of the bad wheel, you’ll find the noise gets louder.
Keep in mind that a faulty bearing will only make noise when your car proceeds, but lousy tire noise, only changes with the surface of the road.
Q: How much does it cost to fix a CV joint?
A CV joint replacement ranges from $90-$220. If you are driving your vehicle to your mechanic’s shop, this replacement prices between $160-$850. Market price is determined by what kind of replacement you want.
If you are replacing the double, the price will be on the steep side, or if you are replacing just the single axle. The older your vehicle’s model, the more expensive it will be to repair because it is not easy to find spare parts.
Q: What are the symptoms of a bad CV joint?
The most notable symptoms are the clicking, popping and clunking sounds it makes while decelerating or accelerating. Vibration while driving is another common symptom.
You may notice grease on your car’s undercarriage due to a ruptured boot or leaking oil. Again you will notice noises coming when this vehicle is maneuvered into a turn.
This means your CV joint is loose (from excessive wear). Excess vibration when in motion is another very telling symptom.
Final Words
Nothing is worse than CV joint noise when driving straight on. That’s why you need to know how to get this fixed immediately.
Always exercise great precaution when working beneath your vehicle. Be sure that you’ve put your brakes on park mode and have taken other precautions.