2000 Maxima with 190k miles has a CV joint boot that is split all the way around. It doesn’t seem to be making the clicking noise yet .
Is this something that should be fixed right away or can it wait a month or so? I ask because money is very tight for the owner.
No one is responding perhaps because of the large amount of law suits. I am protected by poverty, so here goes. First I can not see your rig, nor your roads, so I am making a WAG, not a SWAG. Second, I recommend that you seek the advice of your local mechanic. I make no promises about my advice. Third, all the usual disclaimers apply. Now with that out of the way, a few questions if I may?
How many miles in that time frame? 10000? 20? It makes a difference. Will the mileage be on warm sunny days on pavement, or will it be on muddy trails in the rain?
The short answer is you will probably be OK for a short time if it is on clean dry roads. The worst-case scenario is that mud & crud gets into the CV joint & ruins it. The CV joint will probably last for a month, but not for six months, of moderate driving. Snow, ice, salt, +/or mud & crud will shorten the life of the CV joint. I make no guarantees here.
Just keep in mind that you will pay. The question is, do you want to pay now, or do you want to may more later? Your choice.
I just checked some auto parts stores. A boot kit will cost around $25.00 + labor. A rebuilt 1/2 shaft that includes both CV joints for one side will run about $95.00 + labor. The labor will be about the same for either job.
IHTH, 48.
I’ve seen many axles with torn boots go well over a year before there’s any noise. I’ve also seen many with noisy CV joints go well over a year and not come apart.
Back before replacement axles with remanufactured joints were available, it made economic sense to replace torn boots ASAP in order to protect the joints, which were only available as new. Now, however, it’s not cost-effective, because the price to replace a boot is too large a percentage of the price to replace the axle. I generally advise customers of the timeframe I mentioned above and suggest they wait until they can’t stand the noise anymore before bothering with the repair.
I don’t know when the boot cracked , it was first noticed a few months back.
Last year I replaced the left and right axles on my Saturn. It wasn’t too bad of a job. If you’re handy with tools, you may want to consider doing the job yourself.
depends on whether it’s a ball & groove CV joint or a tri-pod.
IME the ball-and-groove type last a bit longer after the boot rips, and is the type which does the characteristic “clicking” in turns from flat spots worn onto the balls. tri-pod ones tend to destroy the bearing needles before too long.
The worst thing about a torn boot is that the axle will spray grease in a ring, and it’s nasty stuff to clean off/clean up/work around. I suspect a 200k car isn’t spotless, but that ridge of grease all around the area is horrid to deal with.
A CV joint will get noisy before failure, so as long as someone is listening, or looking at it once a week or so, I’d say the job can be put off indefinitely. But I’d put in a good OEM-sourced rebuilt axle, not just a boot kit. Saving pennies to put off a job that will need to be done soon anyway. I don’t know about Nissan but I know that aftermarket new or rebuilt shafts from most auto parts stores for Subaru, Honda and Volvo are shit to be avoided. I got remanufactured Subaru axles from Subaru for only a little more than online/auto parts price, and 'Ru-heads swear by them. Go for quality here.
