How easy to replace CV boot?

[Steve]

My passenger/gearbox side CV boot has split and splattered oil all over the inside of the wheel and arch etc. I think the boot itself is very cheap, but how easy is it to replace? Is it something I should try myself or am I likely to drop the driveshaft out and empty gearbox oil all over the place or something?

I don't know how quickly I can get a garage to do it, but I could have a go at doing it myself at the weekend.

I'm not sure how long it has been leaking, I only noticed oil on the spokes of the wheel the other day. Should I really stop using the car, or is it not too bad?

 

[bumblingfool]

mine failed its first mot for a split passenger side boot. I got the garage to do it for £30. Its worth it to me. Changing a boot isnt hard but it can take a bit of time on a driveway and if you dislocate the driveshaft on the inner it will be a ball ache. Depends wether your feeling active, but remember.....its f***ing cold outside!

wheres my wallet...........


oh and as for driving it i cant imagine it would harm it too much, but i personally would only use it if i had to.

 

[Steve]

It's not that cold here, just tipping it down with rain! Think I will try and get a garage to do it then if it's not going to cost too much, save me the potential of messing things up.

 

[warren_cox]

Can you remove the driveshaft from the gearbox end without removing the hub end first? I suppose you could use the steering lock turn to get it off.

If you use it a lot and the boot is completely split the grease will work its way out and this could cause some wear. Its not as bad as when the boots go on the hub end as this can spray the grease over your brakes and knacker your CV joints.

For the sake of a few quid given the weather I'd get a garage to do it. You have some guarantee then too.

 

[bumblingfool]

thats what i thought for £30. i went to an indedpendant though not seat cos any grease monkey can do it. i got charged £12 boot, £20 labour (1/2 hr).

 

[Steve]

It is the hub end that has split. I was worried about rain getting in the split to replace the grease that has leaked out? The split is not that big though. I think the oil splattered on the wheels was exagerated by the filthy state of the wheels.

I need to use the car quite frequently at the moment but it's only short trips to and from work and my girlfriend's and not any great distances. I will obviously try and get it sorted ASAP though.

Cheers.

 

[rj cupra]

Did you get your cv boot replaced????
Only asking as I replaced mine about a month ago!!

 

[rj cupra]

If you havent yet steve let us know and I shall try to guide you through replacment of such item. Its not that hard a job once you have done it once!!
Only tip is i would go to main dealer as all the local motorfactors i tryed didnt stock the item and when i found one that could (they said it was the same as golf/audi 20vt) it was actualy phisicaly smaller than that of the seat leon 20vt...Tryed to save myself money, but it cost me more in petrol getting the right pert in the end...

 

[Vicky M]

. Its not that hard a job once you have done it once!!
.

many a wise word spoken!!

totally off thread

i've changed front and rear discs and pads on about 20 different cars, but got totally stumped last week putting new discs on a Rover 620 SLDi,
had to strip suspension arms off, as discs are removed from the back of the bearing!
how crap is that?????

total time stripping, replacing and driving out the worshop was 5 hours!!!

that's longer than it took to drill out 4 locking wheel studs !!!!!!!

 

[Steve]

It is booked in at JKM on friday. I need a couple of other bits doing as well so to save me the hassle I'm happy for them to do it all.

When the weather had dried up a bit I could see that the boot hadn't been leaking too much, so it shouldn't have lost too much grease.