Collsj

2005 CR-V EX AWD Automatic Tranny- Original owner, but I'm somewhat new to working on on my Honda as I recently retired. When I was working, I didn't have the time, so I paid to have it worked on. However, I had done a lot of work on VW's and American Iron back in my younger days but I am new to most suspension work, and working with the CV joints on my Honda.

7 months ago I replaced lower ball joints, control arm bushings, and inner and outer CV joint boots on both sides. The tips on Honda-Tech were extremely helpful. I disassembled all the CV joints and cleaned them thoroughly before reassembling, adding the grease and installing the boots. The bands on the boots were as tight as I could get them, and they seemed quite tight. BJs were MOOG, compliance bushings and boots were Honda OEM. The Honda boots came with the yellow Honda OEM grease, which I used.

I have put about 6,000 miles on the CR-V since I did this work, it now has about 104,XXX on it.

I made an error in not checking the job after driving it for few weeks. Yesterday I was investigating a light squealing noise coming from the front right axle/wheel area, which I can only hear at low speed and seems more prominent when turning. There's no clicking noise like I've read describing a failing CV Joint. I noticed that the outer boots on both sides seem to be throwing off grease. Inner boots are not. There was grease all over the ball joints and brake dust shield. The boots are not torn, and they still seem to be firmly in place with the clamps tight enough so it looks like they shouldn't be leaking. There isn't a huge amount, but it's significant, and I don't know how much has been slung off onto the road. It's possible that the grease may be coming from the ball joints, but their boots are intact also. The grease is yellow like the Honda CV, but I don't know what color grease the MOOG BJs had in them.

Has anybody seen CV joints throwing out grease when the boot is intact and the clamps still seem to be tight? My daughter told me she knows people who just use zip-ties for their boots, and I know the clamps are tighter than I could get a zip-tie. I'm wondering if maybe I used too much grease. I couldn't find any specs at the time on how much grease to use, so I used the entire bottle that came with each boot set. This was 8 fl oz in each CV joint. The grease was much more fluid than other greases that I've used, such as lithium grease, wheel bearing grease, etc. It poured/squeezed out the bottles pretty easily. So I'm wondering if the combination of overfilling and the lightweight/fluidity of the grease may be the cause; and if so - will the leakage stop once it's down to its optimum amount?

I'm trying to decide what to do about it. I'm considering the following choices:

1) Jacking the car up, etc and removing the clamps on the boots, sliding the boots back, inspecting the CV joints as best I can, then regreasing them and sliding and clamping the boots. I'm thinking that since the boots are intact, it's not likely that I've gotten dirt in them. Of course, I don't know for sure if there has been any damage, and I don't know if this was the source of the squeal I just started hearing in the last few days. Another problem is that I've been warned not to mix two different types of grease in any application - the Honda OEM grease seems to be only available with the boots, and I'm not sure how completely I can clean out the old grease with the axle still in place. (I later found out the grease is available separately - but the yellow grease is for the inner joint, there's a different grease for the outer. So I would still be mixing two different greases.)

2) Pulling the axles and do a complete breakdown, cleaning, and reassembly of the outer CV joints. This would allow better inspection of the outer CV joints for damage.

3) Just order a new set of axles and replace them, assuming that they are damaged. If so, there seem to be a large number of aftermarket companies offering replacement axles. It looks like I should risk remanufactured, but there are still a lot of new aftermarket options out there - any suggestions as to ones to avoid, or which are the best for a daily driver?

Can anyone offer advice or assistance on this issue?

Collsj

Now it's getting more confusing. I just found some thing interesting when doing a search for "Honda CV Joint Grease" - Bernardiparts.com came up on the listing. For those who don't know, they are an actual Honda dealer that sells discounted Honda OEM parts online. I've found them to be much less expensive than my local Honda dealers, and sometimes they actually get close to aftermarket prices. They're not great on low cost items because you have to pay shipping, but for bigger items and where you want genuine Honda, they are a great option.

What I found is that they have different greases for the inner and outer CV joints: INNER: Part# 08798-9003 (Yellow) 08798-9003 | Honda CV Joint Grease-Inner (Yellow) - Bernardi Parts
OUTER: Part# 08798-9007 https://honda-tech.com/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=51275936

When I bought the Honda OEM boots, they only came with the yellow grease, so I used it on both the outer and inner CV joints. This was apparently the yellow grease that should have been used only on the inner CV joint. Again, this grease was more of a very thick liquid, not stiff like most other greases I have used. I'm guessing that Honda's "outer" CV joint grease is thicker. If so, I can see why perhaps my outer boots may have thrown the grease, but not the inner. Centrifugal force would be higher on turns and curves in the outer joints, and it seems they are under more motion stress.

When I looked at AutoZone, Advanced Auto, and O'Reilly, they all only have one type of CV joint grease and don't differentiate between outer and inner.

Occidentalis

Is it possible you didn't get the bands tight enough? I know there is a special tool to get them really wrenched down. Zip ties would not fly on my car.

Collsj

Thanks for the comment. I think that's what happened - I used the ear type clamps. I bought one of the special pliers for crimping them at AutoZone, but it broke on first use. So I crimped them with as much force as I could muster using a side cutter. They appeared to be very tight, and still do. I took another look yesterday - I wanted to see any fresh leakage since I cleaned them last week. It looks like the leakage is coming from the area of the clamping ears. I also noticed that there is very little clearance between the clamp ears and the top of my ball joints. I'm wondering if there may be some contact as the wheels spin and the suspension flexes when I hit bumps in the road, and that may be causing problems.

Finding clamps and the special clamping tool is tough locally - no go at Autozone, Advance, O'Reilly, or NAPA. So I went on Amazon and ordered a set of clamps and the tool. I decided to switch to the non-ear clamps that get pulled through a buckle and then get folded over and pinned down. They have a much lower profile. I also ordered the tool that tightens the band. They should be here in a few days.

I know the conventional wisdom is to just replace axles at instead of replacing boots, and I can definitely see why. But these axles are original Honda and they looked great when I broke down and cleaned the CV joints. I can't afford new OEMs and I think I still have a lot of miles left on the original axles, and would rather take my chances with them rather than aftermarket replacements which won't likely be of the same quality.

I'll post an update after I know if this works.

Occidentalis

Did you sing the little "built to last, duralast" ditty when you were squeezing? If not, that's probably your problem!

It sounds like you have this under control! Let us know if the new tool fixes it. I suspect I'll be doing a fair amount of boot / grease replacement myself in the future. I'll have to look at the clearance issues you're talking about next time I'm under there. I had a ton of issues with clearance in the rear driver's side inner hitting the evap canister assembly after a Honda dealership replaced the bolts in the cover with zip ties that gave up the ghost. The pan dropped down and caught on a road hazard and pulled the whole assembly back into that axle. .

Collsj

Occidentalis,

Ouch! Did the dealer make good on their screw up? Zip ties???