89 323 cv joints
#1
02-01-2007, 04:07 AM
89 323 cv joints
I just did my water pump last weekend and while I was under the car, I noticed that my left wheel's CV boot is torn open, and full of sand. The other boots are all starting to crack a bit. Does anybody know where I can find diagrams/documents on how this all comes apart? Is it a fairly easy repair, or will I need specialty tools?
#2
02-01-2007, 07:53 PM
RE: 89 323 cv joints
First of all, I am NOT a mechanic! But-
I have an 89 323 SOHC, and I have pretty much rebuilt the entire car over the last five years. If your boots are torn and there is sand inside, you CV lives have been greatly reduced. This being said, you will notice a very loud crunching when you turn, once the CV joint actually goes. If you do not notice this sound, I would simply clean out the CV joints as well as possible, regrease them, and put new boots on. If you buy a split boot you will not have to remove the CV rod from the tranny, you simply glue the seam together. (my split boot lasted about 4 years) If you do not fix the problem asap the CV joints will have to be replaced, which is way more expensive and time consuming.
Changing the CV joints is relatively easy, and you don't need any special tools except for the large socket (maybe 27mm) to take off the large lock nut on the outside of the hub. Simply loosen that nut while the tires are still on the ground, then jack the vehicle up and remove the ball joint and tie rod end.(I seem to remember that one of the hub lock nuts was reverse threaded) Remove the large nut and pull the rotor assembly off of the cv rod. The CV rod should now only be attached at the tranny, and what I used was a thin pry bar to ease the splined end out of the tranny. ***oh yeah, also most of your gear oil will spill out of the tranny when you remove the CV rod. You have to refill it through the speedometer gyro on the top of the tranny housing.
This is totally easy to do, just get the manual and follow it step by step.The biggest pain was putting a thin tube into the speedometer hole on the tranny to refill the gear oil. Good luck!
I have an 89 323 SOHC, and I have pretty much rebuilt the entire car over the last five years. If your boots are torn and there is sand inside, you CV lives have been greatly reduced. This being said, you will notice a very loud crunching when you turn, once the CV joint actually goes. If you do not notice this sound, I would simply clean out the CV joints as well as possible, regrease them, and put new boots on. If you buy a split boot you will not have to remove the CV rod from the tranny, you simply glue the seam together. (my split boot lasted about 4 years) If you do not fix the problem asap the CV joints will have to be replaced, which is way more expensive and time consuming.
Changing the CV joints is relatively easy, and you don't need any special tools except for the large socket (maybe 27mm) to take off the large lock nut on the outside of the hub. Simply loosen that nut while the tires are still on the ground, then jack the vehicle up and remove the ball joint and tie rod end.(I seem to remember that one of the hub lock nuts was reverse threaded) Remove the large nut and pull the rotor assembly off of the cv rod. The CV rod should now only be attached at the tranny, and what I used was a thin pry bar to ease the splined end out of the tranny. ***oh yeah, also most of your gear oil will spill out of the tranny when you remove the CV rod. You have to refill it through the speedometer gyro on the top of the tranny housing.
This is totally easy to do, just get the manual and follow it step by step.The biggest pain was putting a thin tube into the speedometer hole on the tranny to refill the gear oil. Good luck!
#3
02-02-2007, 03:04 AM
RE: 89 323 cv joints
do you have a manual or an automatic? I have the auto, will it still leak ATF when I pull the cv shaft? Can I just refill it through the dipstick tube? Also, I phoned around, and from the sound of it, the CV joints can not be replaced individually. The whole shaft has to be replaced. Is this the case?
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
