YACT: Have you heard of this?

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: Evadman
I swear I already posted in this thread a few months ago. Is my mind going?

You did, but i think i mentioned it in one of my other car threads. I didn't devote a topic to it. Additionally, i hadn't had a mechanic's opinion yet, it was just something i thought to ask at the time.

Here's how to do your CV joints..you want to replace the half-shafts, not just the joints. Doing the joints is a PITA and will take more time to do rather than the half-shafts. Yes, the shafts will cost you a bit more but for the less time and headaches, it's worth it.

First

1. Loosen the Axle nuts on the outer of the wheel but do not completely remove it yet. My jetta is 30mm.
2. Loosen the lug nuts.
3. Jack up the vehicle. Make sure the vehicle is supported by jackstands.
4. Remove the wheels.
5. Next remove the axle nut.
6. Remove the nut that holds the balljoint to the A-Arm.
7. Next use a fork type device to pry the balljoint from the A-Arm.
8. Slide the spindle assembly from the A-Arm.
9. Next remove the bolts that hold the shaft to the tranny. Mine are star shape but consult your Haynes, Chilton, or Dealer for more info.
10. Remove the shaft from the tranny.
The car must be in neutral to remove the shaft.
11. Get the new shaft and pack it thoroughly with high temp bearing grease. Dont' skimp on the grease!
12. Reverse the installation.

Torque everything down to manufacturer specs and test drive.

That seems pretty cool. Ill have to look into it (even more so if the problem turns out to be the CV joints).

-Kevin

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek

Originally posted by: Falcon39
You never mentioned if the noise appears when the car is stationary or only if it is moving. I have never heard of a "cap and pipe" configuration, sounds like nonsense to me. At any rate, it doesn't make sense for the noise to appear only when the wheel is at full lock if it is a CV joint. Does to noise appear only at full lock or any time you turn a corner?

The noise appears regardless of whether or not i am stationary or moving.

The noise only appears when i turn the wheel all the way.

-Kevin

One of my friends owned a Toy pickup as well that did this. I believe it was indeed the balljoint. I would ask her but she just paid the guy the money to fix it without even asking what was wrong. :disgust:

Kevin, if it is the balljoint. You'll have to pretty much do the same thing as I described above but you won't have to take the shaft off the tranny.

Take a chalk marker and outline where the original balljoint is now. You'll be able to tell if the balljoint is bad by looking at the rubber surround. If it's cracked and wobbly after you disconnect it from the A-Arm, it's shot. Replace it.

It might be riveted in so be prepare with a drill and metal bit to drill the rivets out. The new one will have replacement bolts with it. If you need any help. Hit me up. I'd be more than willing to walk you through it.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek

Originally posted by: Falcon39
You never mentioned if the noise appears when the car is stationary or only if it is moving. I have never heard of a "cap and pipe" configuration, sounds like nonsense to me. At any rate, it doesn't make sense for the noise to appear only when the wheel is at full lock if it is a CV joint. Does to noise appear only at full lock or any time you turn a corner?

The noise appears regardless of whether or not i am stationary or moving.

The noise only appears when i turn the wheel all the way.

-Kevin

One of my friends owned a Toy pickup as well that did this. I believe it was indeed the balljoint. I would ask her but she just paid the guy the money to fix it without even asking what was wrong. :disgust:

Lol, typical female

Ill bring it into the dealer and have him only look at it and ill tell him i want the ball joints inspected.

I would rather attempt to do this with my friends. New ball joints on my car outside of the warranty and by the dealer would really be expensive.

Now that everyone seems to believe it has something to do with the ball joints (or something similar), do you guys think that this could be potentially damaging to my car? I am going to the Outer Banks with a few friends on Spring Break and i would rather not have ANYTHING happen to my car.

-Kevin

 

[iamaelephant]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek

Originally posted by: Falcon39
You never mentioned if the noise appears when the car is stationary or only if it is moving. I have never heard of a "cap and pipe" configuration, sounds like nonsense to me. At any rate, it doesn't make sense for the noise to appear only when the wheel is at full lock if it is a CV joint. Does to noise appear only at full lock or any time you turn a corner?

The noise appears regardless of whether or not i am stationary or moving.

The noise only appears when i turn the wheel all the way.

-Kevin

And the pops are continuous even when stationary? Then there's no way it's a ball joint or CV. Probably a problem with the power steering pump. CVs and ball joints will only make noise while the car is moving. If they are badly worn you may get a single pop when you turn the wheel while stationary. But the fact that the noise only appears when the wheel is at full lock suggest a power steering pump problem, most likely with the bypass valve. Get your head under the bonnet while someone else turns the wheel to see if the noise is coming from a P/S pump. If you don't know what the pump looks like, find a box full of fluid with a pulley attached and two hoses coming out of it heading towards the steering rack.

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Originally posted by: Falcon39

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek

Originally posted by: Falcon39
You never mentioned if the noise appears when the car is stationary or only if it is moving. I have never heard of a "cap and pipe" configuration, sounds like nonsense to me. At any rate, it doesn't make sense for the noise to appear only when the wheel is at full lock if it is a CV joint. Does to noise appear only at full lock or any time you turn a corner?

The noise appears regardless of whether or not i am stationary or moving.

The noise only appears when i turn the wheel all the way.

-Kevin

And the pops are continuous even when stationary? Then there's no way it's a ball joint or CV. Probably a problem with the power steering pump. CVs and ball joints will only make noise while the car is moving. If they are badly worn you may get a single pop when you turn the wheel while stationary. But the fact that the noise only appears when the wheel is at full lock suggest a power steering pump problem, most likely with the bypass valve. Get your head under the bonnet while someone else turns the wheel to see if the noise is coming from a P/S pump. If you don't know what the pump looks like, find a box full of fluid with a pulley attached and two hoses coming out of it heading towards the steering rack.

Wrong! Balljoints will make noise moving or stationary. When turning, stationary or while moving, the wheel uses the balljoint as a pivot point. The CV joint will only make noise when the car is moving. Inner would hum like a worn wheel bearing, outer will click in turns.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: Falcon39

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek

Originally posted by: Falcon39
You never mentioned if the noise appears when the car is stationary or only if it is moving. I have never heard of a "cap and pipe" configuration, sounds like nonsense to me. At any rate, it doesn't make sense for the noise to appear only when the wheel is at full lock if it is a CV joint. Does to noise appear only at full lock or any time you turn a corner?

The noise appears regardless of whether or not i am stationary or moving.

The noise only appears when i turn the wheel all the way.

-Kevin

And the pops are continuous even when stationary? Then there's no way it's a ball joint or CV. Probably a problem with the power steering pump. CVs and ball joints will only make noise while the car is moving. If they are badly worn you may get a single pop when you turn the wheel while stationary. But the fact that the noise only appears when the wheel is at full lock suggest a power steering pump problem, most likely with the bypass valve. Get your head under the bonnet while someone else turns the wheel to see if the noise is coming from a P/S pump. If you don't know what the pump looks like, find a box full of fluid with a pulley attached and two hoses coming out of it heading towards the steering rack.

Well now that you mention it, it MAY only happen while moving. Like when pulling in a parking spot or something. I dont usually turn the wheel when the car is completely stationary so i honestly shouldn't have spoken so soon, i would venture to say that it would still happen though.

Ill look into it though (That way i can not only see whether or not it happens when it is stationary, as well as seeing where the noise comes from)

-Kevin

 

[iamaelephant]

The ball joint would make a noise while the wheel is being turned, but not while the wheel is being held at full lock. The fact that the noise only appears at full lock suggests something else.

<-- Ex mechanic

Edit - directed at Cdubneeddeal

 

[Compton]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
has ANYONE heard of such a cap and pipe configuration

"Cap and pipe" sounds like BS to me. I'd find another mechanic.

And I would suspect a ball joint as well.

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Originally posted by: Falcon39
The ball joint would make a noise while the wheel is being turned, but not while the wheel is being held at full lock. The fact that the noise only appears at full lock suggests something else.

<-- Ex mechanic

Edit - directed at Cdubneeddeal

Right. But if you see the quote above yours:

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek

Originally posted by: Falcon39
You never mentioned if the noise appears when the car is stationary or only if it is moving. I have never heard of a "cap and pipe" configuration, sounds like nonsense to me. At any rate, it doesn't make sense for the noise to appear only when the wheel is at full lock if it is a CV joint. Does to noise appear only at full lock or any time you turn a corner?

The noise appears regardless of whether or not i am stationary or moving.

The noise only appears when i turn the wheel all the way.

-Kevin

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: Compton

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
has ANYONE heard of such a cap and pipe configuration

"Cap and pipe" sounds like BS to me. I'd find another mechanic.

And I would suspect a ball joint as well.

That was my initial reaction. My dad is all for helping me with the car, but since he doesn't drive it everyday he isn't quite as willing to help.

You guys probably aren't going to like this but that mechanic attempted to fix it for us. He covered that pipe (or some pipe) with grease about a month or go to suppress the noise. I dont remember it really doing anything, but i cant help but wonder what pipe he clogged with grease.

To go further these mechanics (from NTB) installed the wrong size tires on my car. Then when i got those exchanged for the right size i felt a really bad jumping from the rear passenger side tire. SOmething was wrong with the wheel or the rim, so i took it back. My dad and i took the wheel off and looked at it. The rim was filled 200 degress, on both sides, with weights. We took it off and i just said quietly "Holy ******!!". Put it on the spin balancer and it rang up at values >6 on one side to >12 on the other. We managed to suppress the problem a little (Rotated the tire on the rim and it dropped to ~2|4), but there is still a noticable hop ~55mph, so im just going to go and get a new rim.

I would be even less apt to believe in this pipe thing if ONE Toyota mechanic (upon hearing the description) hadn't told my dad that he had heard of it.

-Kevin

 

[iamaelephant]

You don't need a new rim, you just need someone who isn't an incompitent moron to balance your wheel. How many weights were there? A good wheel balancer will only use 4 or less weights. Sometimes when a mechanic can't get it right he just keeps adding more and more weights. This is not the way to balance a wheel.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: Falcon39
You don't need a new rim, you just need someone who isn't an incompitent moron to balance your wheel. How many weights were there? A good wheel balancer will only use 4 or less weights. Sometimes when a mechanic can't get it right he just keeps adding more and more weights. This is not the way to balance a wheel.

Nah, we tried that and the spare rim (My friend works in the tire bay of BJ's and i work as a Cashier (Or used to, just quit; additionally, i wasn't 18 yet). Neither would balance out right. We tried everything.

My friend, as well as the other mechanics there said that we could go to the junkyard and find another rim, but they had a sinking suspicion that NTB gave me a tire that wasn't completely round in addition to a SLIGHTLY bent rim.

-Kevin