CV Joint Boot - Driver's Side

[CTScott]

Originally Posted by DebbyM46227

It's the Toyota dealer I bought it from that says my boot needs replaced. They had a special on synthetic oil changes - otherwise I'd never taken it there yesterday. Today I'll try to look at it myself by turning the wheel. Being female, I'm not into jacking it up or fixing it myself.

Unfortunately there are no shops open for car repair here on Sunday.

As far as hitting something on the road, I'm very careful when driving. I started a new job in June and it's on the southwest side of Indianapolis, which seems inundated with trucking companies and gravel-hauling dump trucks, in addition our city dump is there. And lots of railroad tracks I have to cross. These trucks have destroyed the roads I have to drive on to get to work, and it doesn't help that I have to deal with White River and there are limited streets I can use to cross the river. I avoid pot holes when driving but the railroad tracks I can't avoid and I cringe every time I have to cross one.

I hope the bad roads didn't cause this, if I truly have a torn boot.

It is pretty hard to tear a boot on a low mileage and relatively young car, but they typical way that it happens in this case is by a piece of debris getting kicked up and nailing the boot. Shine a flashlight around under the car and you will see splotches of grease with loads of dirt stuck to it if the boot is really torn, as the boot is packed with grease and it comes flying out of a torn one and sticks to surfaces under the car.

If you really have a torn one it will not cause an immediate failure. It is keeping grease in to lubricate the CV joint and most people never realize that they have a bad boot until the joint fails. A failing joint will start making clicking noises when the wheel is turned all the way in one direction and the car is in motion. So, the dealer trying to scare you about the urgency of the issue is a farce.