Howdy everybody!

My girlfriend has a 2001 Protege that is making a clicking noise coming from the front end when in motion both forwards and backwards, straight line and in corners. Once you get over about 25-30 mph it's drowned out by roadnoise.

Car wasn't making this noise until recently until I took it in to get the timingbelt, waterpump, and and crankshaft gasket changed. The dealership powerwashed the daylights out of the underside of the hood and engine compartment due to an accumulation of all the oil that was getting thrown about.

While I haven't gotten a chance to crawl under it and look at the CV boots, I've got a sneeking suspicion that the boots/joints might be going bad. But I wonder if it's just coincidence that it started happening when I got it back, or if all the powerwashing under the hood caused it.

Any ideas as to what it might be are greatly appreciated!

 

If your CV boots where dry rotted pressure washing them chould have broken them open letting in moisture and dirt. As you know if dirt gets into the CV joints it's like sand blasting the metal *****, they wear down and don't fit into the cavity they move around in that's what causes the clicking. It would be save to say since your CV joints are clicking they need to be replaced.