Is this a clicking cv joint?

I drive a 2006 honda accord with 103k miles. In the past two years there has been a clicking noise that would only happen when accelerating while turning and below 50 degrees, but it has gotten worse recently and now clicks at all temps and is much worse. Here is a link to a clip of turning: https://youtu.be/4YSWam9IM9A
I am aware the CEL is on, it just turned on two days ago and i need to get the code read.

It sounds to me more like a chassis component, perhaps a bushing, somewhere. Sway bar link, sway bar bushing, steering linkage, something like that. Best place to find it is under the car.

The last time I heard a noise like that, it was a bad engine mount allowing the transmission to hit the body.

The classic symptom of a worn cv joint is clicking when turning, starting at slow speed, like when turning right from a stop sign. The clicking is usually quite obvious and the frequency of the clicks increases with wheel speed. Does that describe your symptom?

That is exactly what i was doing, applying power while turning right from a stop. I did check the cv boot, and they are intact.

I expect you’re looking at an outer cv joint replacement in your near future. This is usually done by replacing the entire half axle these days, rather than just the joint itself. The replacement half axle includes both the replacement inner and outer joints, and new boots, inner and outer. You’ll then be good to go. Most of the experts here recommend to replace both half shafts when one fails, as the other probably isn’t far behind.

My own CV joint experience as a baseline, on both my prior VW Rabbit and my current Corolla, I serviced the joints as routine maintenance at 30,000 mile intervals by removing the half shafts, taking the joints apart, cleaning, and re-lubing, and if needed, re-booting. I’ve never had one fail on my Corolla in 200K miles, but I did have one fail on my Rabbit even with the routine servicing. The problem w/newer cars, at some point in the 1990’s many manufactures went w/a different style of CV joint design and those can’t be taken apart and serviced. Doing so ruins the joint. They can be replaced with new joints though. Doing it that way allows you to keep the oem axle, which is sometimes a good thing.

Ok, thank you for the information. Should this be an item of concern, or just know it needs replacement sometime?

I told this story a while back here, but one time I was taking a walk and this car full of teenagers comes rolling down the street a little faster than they should you know how teenagers are. And it hits a speed bump, wham, bam,grind, the car comes to stop, and I hear this whirring sound. It’s CV joint ball bearings rolling down the street at 20 mph … lol …

So yes, it would be a good idea to fix this with due speed. The joint will eventually fail. It can fail in various ways, none good, and some quite unsafe. Replacing a half shaft isn’t a big expense. Maybe 200 dollars. You can try to save money by just replacing the one if you want to take on the risk that the other isn’t nearly gone too. It’s possible that might pay off, hard to say. I wouldn’t do it though.

Edit: One of the experts here @db4690 has some good opinions based on experience on what brands of half shafts to use, and which to avoid, hopefully db will chime in here later.

Ok, the car needs new tires anyways so i could get it replaced at the same time as that.

I’m down with that.

Here’s my thoughts, which are based on my own experiences . . .

Avoid autozone cv axleshafts . . . both new and remanned

many of the store brand axleshafts are CHEAP and don’t include the “damper” assembly, which is often on the longer axleshaft. On FWD vehicles, the axleshafts are often different lengths, side to side

Avoid new cheap chinese axleshafts. They’re often just as noisy right out of the box, as your old axleshaft. Not to mention sometimes they don’t even fit correctly. To be honest, I’ve been slightly more impressed with new Mexican axleshafts

I believe EMPI brand axleshafts may be decent. I have no idea where they’re made nowadays.

Those mom and pop shops which do nothing but rebuild axles have very competitive prices, if you bring them your axleshafts to overhaul. They’ll reuse the shaft if possible, and slap some new joints and boots on each end. The turnaround time isn’t bad. You could probably drop an axleshaft off during the lunch hour, and pick it up after work.

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UPDATE: The problem was the drivers side cv joint, the entire cv axle was replaced for $280 and the problem is fixed.

Good to hear you are back on the road with a click-free drive :wink: