I recently had my right front axle replaced by tire kingdom for about $200. Previously I had wrecked my car and I was forced to replace the struts, suspension, brakes, and host of other things. Fortunately I had an Uncle that was able to do the majority of the repairs for a steal and since then my car has ran pretty smoothly for the most part. One day I took it to Tire Kingdom for a routine oil change and they said I needed to replace my right axle along with my struts. I knew they were BSing about the struts seeing that my uncle just replaced them however my axle was questionable seeing that another place had suggested that I needed a new axle (this was immediately after the accident).
While I never hear a clicking noise while turning my car, I have heard a clicking noise while breaking, which would sometimes be followed by my car backfires a bit as I accelerate. Since I've had my axle replaced the clicking noise is little to none and I haven't had any backfiring spells as of late. Just wondering if anyone would agree with Tire Kingdom's assesement that my axle was indeed broken as I find it hard to believe that an axle would cause those type of problems. They said the axle was busted and that grease was all over the place so I assume this %26quot;grease%26quot; got onto my brakes as well??...They checked my brakes, the rest of the suspension, and the car overall and they said everything looks good.How to tell if your car axle is broken?Nothing in your description makes me think the axle is broken, or even damaged in any identifiable way.
I suspect they saw the remnants of the CV joint grease and jumped to the conclusion it had a torn boot at the time.
I bet if you clean up the grease with some rags nobody else will say you have an axle problem.How to tell if your car axle is broken?If your axle break, the car won't move. I think they are trying to tell you that your axle boot is torn and need to be replace with new boot. Although replacing newly rebuilt axle is easiest and sometime cheaper then replacing the boot alone.How to tell if your car axle is broken?Well broken isn't right word! What was wrong is that the constant velocity joint was bad! Normally referred to as %26quot;CV joint%26quot;. There is one on each end of axle, -- if boot goes bad, they run dry, and it damages them.
The grease will shortly burn out of brakes if you use them much, --probably by time you got to shop, the grease was %26quot;long gone%26quot;, and already burned off!
There should be no connection with backfiring and bad axle, so I have no idea what caused that!
If axle was actually %26quot;broken%26quot; the car would not move, - since it requires that it be connected to transmission as well as 'Hub%26quot; end to drive wheels to make car move!
Now about clicking, -- that was %26quot;slop%26quot; in CV joint possibly because of wear! If nothing was done to brakes, this is most likely problem. Brakes can also make clicking noise, - if disk got bent -- or possibly wheel was bent some, -- and clicking would be the worst in tight turns, the tighter the worse! I have seen really bad CV joints try to jerk the wheel out of your hands in tight turns (in this case it is at slow speeds)!
On the %26quot;BSing%26quot;, - they were trying to hint that some of that grease under there was from the oil in struts! Many people might %26quot;buy that%26quot;!How to tell if your car axle is broken?The 'boot' keeps the joint greased up, and keeps water/dirt out. If it tears open, they it will release the grease and expose the joint/bearings to dirt and water. You may not hear or feel anything wrong with it, but in time. You'll hear the signature clunk it produces on turns.
You can however, is just replace the torn boot. Cheaper, then replacing the whole shaft. But, it may only be a temporary fix, as no one knows how much dirt and moisture got in there.
