rear axle joint leaking grease

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cx5tepr

Member
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cx-5
during a routine inspection of my 2013 AWD cx-5 today a mechanic pointed out my right rear axle boot is leaking grease. I guess this is a CV boot leakage, he didn't show where it's leaking from.

curious how this might have failed. Do rocks and other things that ricochet around under the car while driving possibly damage axle boots randomly? will my occasional attempts to do hard left handbrake turns on wet roads cause the right rear axle boots to fail?

I bought a 100k mile warranty from the dealership when I bought the car so I need to take it in for them to check. i'm at about 45K miles, any ideas if this is usually covered by a warranty?

I suppose I need to get this replaced, the mechanic at the shop said the rear boot on an AWD costs $500 to order, compared to $100 for the front boot, because the AWD version supposedly costs a lot more. i'm hoping this is covered by my warranty.
 
First problem is doing that with the tsc not hard disabled, or the 50a abs fuse pulled. Two, 500 for the parts no way. 500 for parts and labour, maybe (rip off btw). The boot kit costs like $50 depending on which one (inner/outer) is leaking.. linked here.. http://www.zoomzoomnationparts.com/...5862/DRIVE-AXLES-REAR-SUSPENSION/5470590.html

As to wether those actions causes it, I highly doubt it. I do those kinds of shenanigans all the time, I'm also ecu tuned, lowered and have a stiffer rear sway. Probably just a bad draw, or of it's not ripped the seal is poor.
 
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I always price match this website at my local mazda dealer when i buy parts
 
This CV boot thing is tricky for warranty coverage. It usually won't be covered under powertrain warranty as it's a "wear-out" item! Sometimes it won't be covered under new car warranty with the same reason! I once had a split CV-boot on my VW Passat at 28K miles and VWoA insisted not to cover the fix as it's wear-out item!

Of course the boot kit alone can't be $500 even with more involved labor. The garage might quote you the whole new drive shaft for $500. But as Chris_Top_Her pointed out that is still high even with the labor!
 
yrwei52 said:
This CV boot thing is tricky for warranty coverage. It usually won't be covered under powertrain warranty as it's a "wear-out" item! Sometimes it won't be covered under new car warranty with the same reason! I once had a split CV-boot on my VW Passat at 28K miles and VWoA insisted not to cover the fix as it's wear-out item!

Of course the boot kit alone can't be $500 even with more involved labor. The garage might quote you the whole new drive shaft for $500. But as Chris_Top_Her pointed out that is still high even with the labor!
Click to expand...

thanks for the responses.

Is replacing the boot kit sufficient in cases like this or do they need to take it apart and look inside to assess the damage? how does one generally service these things?

haven't ever run into something like this before. it looks like it's kind of a s*** happens deal but wonder if i've done something stupid in my driving like ramming a curb while parallel parking or something
 
cx5tepr said:
thanks for the responses.

Is replacing the boot kit sufficient in cases like this or do they need to take it apart and look inside to assess the damage? how does one generally service these things?

haven't ever run into something like this before. it looks like it's kind of a s*** happens deal but wonder if i've done something stupid in my driving like ramming a curb while parallel parking or something
Click to expand...

Boot has to come off then they can inspect the cv joint itself to make sure it's still good (bearings, etc.). They usually last a lot longer than 45k miles. Front boots usually go bad first, there's a lot more flexing. I wonder if the boot "kit" involves replacing the entire axle on that side? Still shouldn't be that much.
 
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If it's just the boot having a rip or loose somehow your axle usually isn't damaged. the grease is very thick and doesn't just come out like oil. But since he didn't say where it's hard to say. Of this leak is any way significant, you could probably see it easily by looking under.
 
cx5tepr said:
thanks for the responses.

Is replacing the boot kit sufficient in cases like this or do they need to take it apart and look inside to assess the damage? how does one generally service these things?

haven't ever run into something like this before. it looks like it's kind of a s*** happens deal but wonder if i've done something stupid in my driving like ramming a curb while parallel parking or something
Click to expand...
Boot kit contains only a new rubber boot、clamps、moly CV grease、and may be a circle clip. The part is cheap but more labor is involved as you need to take apart the CV joint and clean it up. Most garages nowadays are simply replace the whole drive shaft with a refurbished one, which they can save time on labor but still make money by selling more expensive drive shaft. I'd done many boot replacements by myself with boot kit to save money on my VWs as the rubber boots on these VWs seem to be split very easy! CV joint normally is in good shape if you catch the broken boot early and replace it soon. You'd see dark moly grease spreading around everywhere in the wheel well, and you won't miss it.

I don't think broken CV boot has anything to do with your driving style. Most likely the culprit is the poor quality of boot itself, or very unlikely something got caught in the CV boot area while driving and damaged it.
 
I have seen an unscrupulous independent shop person cut a boot with a box cutter and then tell a customer the boot needs changing. I was having tires installed and watched this happen. I talked to the car owner and the "mechanic" was fired after some real yelling. I ask another big guy to walk me to my car as I didn't like the idea of getting bashed in the head. Ed
 
erhayes said:
I have seen an unscrupulous independent shop person cut a boot with a box cutter and then tell a customer the boot needs changing. I was having tires installed and watched this happen. I talked to the car owner and the "mechanic" was fired after some real yelling. I ask another big guy to walk me to my car as I didn't like the idea of getting bashed in the head. Ed
Click to expand...

Dang
 
Hello,

I just remembered that I had installed the wrong ratio tire on that wheel for a few thousand miles (i had a small leak in the tire and wanted to replace that one tire with a used one for a 6 month period)

it was a 215/65r17 installed vs the correct size of 225/65r17. the guys at the tire shop said it shouldn't matter for a small aspect ratio difference. any possibility that was involved in this or is that just coincidence? since it was the same wheel, and this problem was only noticed recently, i'm wondering if that wrong aspect ratio is somehow related.

I saw a bunch of dark thick grease caked around the axle area, kinda looked like really thick black sandy mud. it didn't look good. not sure when this started but i guess within the last six months. wish i had taken a picture at the time maybe i can get under there again.

hoping that my wrong tire ratio wasn't somehow to blame, feeling kinda worried+dumb i've damaged something.
 
cx5tepr said:
Hello,

I just remembered that I had installed the wrong ratio tire on that wheel for a few thousand miles (i had a small leak in the tire and wanted to replace that one tire with a used one for a 6 month period)

it was a 215/65r17 installed vs the correct size of 225/65r17. the guys at the tire shop said it shouldn't matter for a small aspect ratio difference. any possibility that was involved in this or is that just coincidence? since it was the same wheel, and this problem was only noticed recently, i'm wondering if that wrong aspect ratio is somehow related.

I saw a bunch of dark thick grease caked around the axle area, kinda looked like really thick black sandy mud. it didn't look good. not sure when this started but i guess within the last six months. wish i had taken a picture at the time maybe i can get under there again.

hoping that my wrong tire ratio wasn't somehow to blame, feeling kinda worried+dumb i've damaged something.
Click to expand...
No, definitely not caused by a little narrower tire you put on. Since now you see the CV joint grease, you'd better do something soon. Personally I'd like to keep original drive shaft, and use a new OEM boot. But most likely you'll be told to use a refurbished drive shaft. It's hard to tell the quality of the refurb shaft unless it's OEM.
 
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