Question : something seriously wrong. CV Joint maybe?

[ecko614]

i have a question regarding my 95 GA GT. It doesnt do it everyday, but its doin it more and more frequently than it used toa. Here it goes.... i start it up, let it warm up and run for about 5min before i go anywhere. I put it in drive and give it a little gas and "POP". Thats the noise i hear coming from the front passenger sider of the car. It used to only pop like that when id get on it real hard from a dead stop. Now it does it no matter how hard or how soft i give it gas. It kinda annoys me because its such a loud "POP". I bought the car off my sister who was just letting it sit and go to waste in her garage. I had learned that she went on a trip to cleveland and the passenger side motor mount busted and the motor dropped down onto the strut or whatever. Got quite a bit replaced and everything was fine. Until now...I was told that my CV Joint is going out on me. Another dude told me to just tighten up the CV clamps and id be fine. I just want to know what it is exactly, how serious it is/can be, how can i fix it. The cars alignment isnt perfect, but it aint drop dead horrible neither. Also-during the summer time, i noticed that the passenger wheel sticks out more at the top than the driver side wheel. Could this have anything to do with it?? thanks to anyone who can help.

[IsaacHayes]

Well the wheel sticking out is either the wheel bearing is shot and the wheel is about to fall off, or the camber is severely messed up on the car, from either the strut/knuckle being replaced or messed with and not put back in the right spot and/or getting aligned afterwards, or the control arm is bent to hell.

I'd jack it up and grab the wheel from the top and bottom and pull and push like you are rocking it back and forth (top and pushes, bottom pulls, switch) and see if you feel looseness (that would be bad wheel bearing).

Then look at the control arm to see if it looks bent, also look at how the strut is bolted to the knuckle on both sides, to see if the passenger side is way out of whack compared to the drivers side, that would need an aligment to fix the camber there. Or you could loosen the bolts, and adjust it as close as you can to match the drivers side and retighten it back down.

Also inspect the dogbone/torque strut down there. Take the plastic splash gaurd off if it has one so you can see the motor pully/etc area and look at the torque strut (you'll see it) that limits the engine movement. Maybe one bolt is loose there or its damaged.

Also check the main motor mount (the one that failed) there will be 2 bolts in the wheel well there that hold it in. Make sure those are tight. Mine were loose once and made that noise..


Finally it could be the CV joint, especially if the motor fell and that would put an extreme bend and angle on the CV joint stressing it/damaging it. They aren't terribly hard to replace if you have the tools (impact, big socket) and know how to yank them out (small prybar, put tension, slap/tap the prybar quick and it will pop out) Tightening the clamp on the boots will do absolutly nothing unless they were loose and leaking grease for some reason, but it won't fix a worn CV axle. that guy doesn't know what he is saying.

basically inspect everything you can to see if there are any loose bolts, bent or broken things.

[ecko614]

`kool. thanks alot mr isaachayes. its kinda dark now, but first thing tomorrow-i know what my day is consisting of. I shall pop back up on here tomorrow with any follow-ups. Thanks again dude

[ecko614]

sorry for the long overdue reply....isaac yet again you've came thru for me. found out that both the motor mount bolts(inside the wheel well) were loose...and i mean fingers loosened them both up....so i tightened them down pretty good....and ive yet to hear a noise come from up there. As far as pushin/pullin on the wheel...i did that and there was absolutly no movement at all. Thanx a ton dude-you are the damn man and i appriciate all the help you've given me with my car. I can say that you've contributed to about 75% of the solutions to the problems i post on here. Thanx dude.

[IsaacHayes]

Glad to help!
Great to hear the good news!