I drive a 94 Saturn SL1 as a part-time delivery driver for a pizza shop. Recently I bottomed out on someone’s driveway. I could hear the bottom of my car scraping against the asphalt. It took several tries (in my 5-speed) to free myself from this trap. Since then I’ve been hearing a pretty loud “clicking” noise from the passenger side of the car every time I make a turn, where a small turn or a big turn. My mechanic replaced the left axle and the right boot, saying that both were defective. However I still hear the noise. What can I do?? Thanks
The passenger side is the right side. If the CV boot was replaced on the right side because it was torn the CV joint could have already been contaminated from debris. If a CV boot is ripped open replace the entire halfshaft. You can’t tell how long it was open and how much debris got into the CV joint. Replace the right side halfshaft.
Tester
+1 with tester’s comment.
Why anyone would just replace the boot on an axle is beyond me: If the boot has been torn, road junk got in and the CV joint will eventually need replacing anyway. Most mechanics don’t just replace the CV joint but the entire axle because of the work involved. Half shaft (=axle) replacement is cheaper than the work involved to rebuild them.
Sorry guys, correction–
He replaced the left outer tie rod, the right front axle, and the clicking sound comes from the right front. It’s just as loud as it was before I took the car to the shop. It doesn’t matter which direction I turn the wheel, I get one “click” coming from the right (passenger) side.