Subaru WRX CV Joints?

[WRX-F1]

I was wondering if anyone out there knows the typical lifetime of CV
joints. I have a 2003 WRX with 41K miles. Right now the car makes a
thumping/knocking noise repeatedly while steering either right or left.
The weird thing is that it only does this after driving it for 10 or
15 miles. It seems to get worse the more I drive. Is this related to
the CV joints going bad? I always thought that bad CV joints would act
bad no matter what temperature they are at. The first dealer I took it
to found no problems. The car would cool and the noise was gone before a
mechanic would check it. The second one said the same thing so I drove
the car around some more so that the noise would come back. After they
looked at the cv joints again they said I would have to replace them. I
have no idea why they couldn't tell they were bad before but they want
1000 to replace all 4 in the front. Any help or suggestions with this
would be appreciated.

 

[mulder]

41K is unusually early for CV joints to be failing unless the boots were
ripped and the car was driven that way for a while. Usually the noise
from a bad CV will be a ratcheting or clicking sound when making tight
turns, and they typically don't all fail simultaneously. Not saying your
problem isn't CV's, can't tell without seeing your car, but it may be
something else. And if it is CV's that $1000 price is ridiculous since
you can purchase new or remanufactured complete axles for far less than
that and the labor to install them isn't that complicated, maybe an hour
or so per side.
You also may want to check carefully the terms of the 5/60 powertrain
warranty as this might possibly be covered. The trans definitely is but
I'm not sure about axles.

 

[johninKY]

I'm 99.9 % sure there is nothing wrong with the CV axles. Willing to bet
money if you spend the $1k all you will get will be the 4 original joints
cleaned and new boots. Dealer ends up making roughly $900 on this
"repair". and you still have the same problem

Check the front sway bar and steering rack for looseness. Sounds to me a
sway bar bushing has rolled in its bracket or maybe the steering rack is a
little loose.

 

[hippo]

I was wondering if anyone out there knows the typical lifetime of CV
joints. I have a 2003 WRX with 41K miles. Right now the car makes a
thumping/knocking noise repeatedly while steering either right or left.
The weird thing is that it only does this after driving it for 10 or
15 miles. It seems to get worse the more I drive. Is this related to
the CV joints going bad? I always thought that bad CV joints would act
bad no matter what temperature they are at. The first dealer I took it
to found no problems. The car would cool and the noise was gone before a

mechanic would check it. The second one said the same thing so I drove
the car around some more so that the noise would come back. After they
looked at the cv joints again they said I would have to replace them. I

have no idea why they couldn't tell they were bad before but they want
1000 to replace all 4 in the front. Any help or suggestions with this
would be appreciated.

In 332,300Km on a Liberty wagon, the only cvs or w/bearngs replaced were
following a reasonably major collision. That distance sounds unusual teh
car is damaged, abused, or not maintained (Note - *not* an accusation!)
Can't see why all four would spontaneously give out & if it is the case,
two reco shafts should save you heaps on that quote.

Can you be any more specific. Is the noise there *all* the time on any
sort of turn? e.g: once it's warmed up, or just uphill, downhill, flat,
light or tight turns, power on or off. If it's only some, more info might
help immensely. How well can you describe the actual noise?
Cheers

 

[WRX-F1]

Once the car is warm the noise is always there. It's not noticeable on
the highway or high speed turns. The noise is most apparent when
maneuvering through a parking lot. Basically it is a repeated knocking
at the same intervals as the wheels turn. It's there even when the car
rolls with no gear engaged. The thumping part can even be felt inside
the car. The car is well maintened and taken care of. About a week
before this happened I was driving at around 60MPH and heard something
hit pretty hard under my car. When I looked back it appeared to be a
rock that was on the highway. I don't know if this had anything to do
with this or not.

Thanks again to all who have helped with this.

 

[KLS]

Once the car is warm the noise is always there. It's not noticeable on
the highway or high speed turns. The noise is most apparent when
maneuvering through a parking lot. Basically it is a repeated knocking
at the same intervals as the wheels turn. It's there even when the car
rolls with no gear engaged. The thumping part can even be felt inside
the car.

Could this be a split in your tire tread? I've seen such tire defects
cause this kind of thumping in cars.

 

[johninKY]

Since the thump is there even when coasting, it can't be the CV axles.
Knowing now you ran over something has me thinking a bent rim or a broken
tire chord. Try rotating the tires and then hopefully the thump will have
moved to the rear of the car.

 

[Andy M - Tampa Bay]

Since the thump is there even when coasting, it can't be the CV axles.
Knowing now you ran over something has me thinking a bent rim or a broken
tire chord. Try rotating the tires and then hopefully the thump will have
moved to the rear of the car.

my bro has a similar problem in his 96 mitsu galant. we couldn't figure it
out until he bought new ties and the tire guy told him he had a slightly
bent rim on a front wheel, and recommended to put that wheel on the rear.
now the thumping isn't noticeable.

 

[hippo]

my bro has a similar problem in his 96 mitsu galant. we couldn't figure it

out until he bought new ties and the tire guy told him he had a slightly

bent rim on a front wheel, and recommended to put that wheel on the rear.

now the thumping isn't noticeable.

All good advice in these 3 posts. Agree can't be CVs unless they've all
spontaneously totally destroyed themselves. Ditto hub splines and probably
ditto bearings.

Try the tyre rotate. Before you do, jack up each front wheel, rotate wheel
and check for a visible wheel wobble or a bubble in the tyre tread. If it
goes away on a front to back swap, yep, it's a rim or a tyre. Otherwise,
sounds like a bent shaft or remote outside chance that something punched a
shaft into the diff housing hard enough to damage something outside. Wheel
or tyre likeliest. Cheers

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

If it's an auto, try putting in the FWD fuse. have you had occasion to
drive with a donut spare or different sized tire(s) mixed on the car?
Could be the center diff. or duty solenoid C. Causes thumping you can
feel in sharp slow turns.

hope it is a tire/rim

Carl
1 Lucky Texan

 

[WRX-F1]

I tried a donut on the right side but still heard the sound.
I will try to rotate both tires to the back but it doesn't seem to
likely that both rims were damaged.

 

[johninKY]

Don't forget to closely examine the front sway bar bushings and endlinks.

 

[NitroTrike]

From: WRX-F1 (e-mail address removed)

Date: 12/26/2004 2:11 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
Message-id: <9_Dzd.2222$(e-mail address removed)>

I was wondering if anyone out there knows the typical lifetime of CV
joints. I have a 2003 WRX with 41K miles. Right now the car makes a
thumping/knocking noise repeatedly while steering either right or left.
The weird thing is that it only does this after driving it for 10 or
15 miles. It seems to get worse the more I drive. Is this related to
the CV joints going bad? I always thought that bad CV joints would act
bad no matter what temperature they are at. The first dealer I took it
to found no problems. The car would cool and the noise was gone before a
mechanic would check it. The second one said the same thing so I drove
the car around some more so that the noise would come back. After they
looked at the cv joints again they said I would have to replace them. I
have no idea why they couldn't tell they were bad before but they want
1000 to replace all 4 in the front. Any help or suggestions with this
would be appreciated.





I broke the right rear sway bar mount on my 2002 WRX several times. When it

did, it would rub on the gas filler neck (great design), making a horrible
noise over bumps, and when turning. I have heard this is not uncommon,
especially if you carry anything heavy in your trunk, or drive the car "hard"
into turns. If you have put larger sway bars on it, the stock perches will
break. I finally put Whiteline perches on it, and no problems since. If is is a
"creaking" noise, it is just the sway bar bushings, as mine did that with the
stock bushings, and the urethane ones. This can be irritating, but not causing
any harm.

 

[WRX-F1]

I finally got this fixed. It ended up being the center differential so
it was a free replacement. The fact that I had to give the dealer a
list of things to check isn't too reassuring. Even worst was that one
dealer tried to charge 1K for replacing something that was not broken.
I guess that some dealers out there don't know much about the cars they
sell.

 

[BlueSTi]

I finally got this fixed. It ended up being the center differential so
it was a free replacement. The fact that I had to give the dealer a
list of things to check isn't too reassuring. Even worst was that one
dealer tried to charge 1K for replacing something that was not broken.
I guess that some dealers out there don't know much about the cars they
sell.

A few weeks ago I went by the dealership to pick something up and the
service manager asked me if my STi was a 2001 model! Give me a break!
The first production year was 2004 for the U.S. It's not like you
could mix the STi up with another Subaru. If the Service manager
doesn't know what the current years production vehicles, run, don't
walk away!
BlueSTi
"Scary-Fast"

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

SELF hi-5 !

Carl
1 Lucky Texan

I finally got this fixed. It ended up being the center differential so
it was a free replacement. The fact that I had to give the dealer a
list of things to check isn't too reassuring. Even worst was that one
dealer tried to charge 1K for replacing something that was not broken.
I guess that some dealers out there don't know much about the cars they
sell.

 

[WRX-F1]

Good call on that one Carl!
I was ready to trade in my car if I couldn't find a solution.
For a 2K5 WRX of course

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

"Even a blind hog finds an acorn occasionally"

Carl
1 Lucky Texan