I have had a comment that my CV joints in the ftont need checking, although I have never heard any clunking from the front end. Anyone know about the lifespan of the CV joints at 50,000 miles?

krouac

 

At least 50,000 miles, right?

CV joints start making noise before they go, most commonly when you are accelerating in a very tight turn (like pulling out of a parking spot). It goes click-click-click as the tire rotates. If you're not hearing that, I wouldn't worry about that.

I had a Ford Tempo that made the noise for a couple weeks and then the joint let go. It didn't cost more to replace simply because it failed all the way, although I did have to have it towed. I had a Ford Aspire that started making the noise. I had it in a transmission shop for other work, and they checked it and said that even though it was making noise it was still okay. It's probably gone 40,000 miles with the noise (the guy I sold it to is still driving it that way).

However, I've never heard of a CV joint break if it wasn't making noise.

The only other thing to do is check the rubber boots on the joints. If they are torn it will make the joints fail faster. If they are dry on the outside they are fine. If they are torn there is grease everywhere.