[BeBe]

My mechanic is telling me that there is some play in the driver's side half-shaft. How concerned should I be about that? In my mind, this ranges anywhere from something the mechanic can make some money on because it sounds serious the whole way to the left rear tire falls off as I'm driving down the road.



Is the problem common? Is it related to the pinion gear in any way (haven't heard any suspicious noises)?



Is this a fix it now problem, or something that I'll know when it is time?

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[tamathumper]

Half-shaft play is usually due to wear in the CV joints. There's one on either end of the half-shaft, housed in a rubber boot. There's no particular "time" to take care of it, just know that the boots are probably torn and there's dirt and gunk wearing out your CV joints, and you want to take care of them before one of them fails utterly. Your wheel isn't going to fall off, and it has nothing to do with the pinion bearing or your transaxle internals, it's just one of those things that you have to address when it occurs. And, it has occurred.

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[Cloud9...68]

Yes, take a look under there and check the boots. Mine were in amazing condition - soft and pliable as the day they were installed, and definitely not torn - so if your aren't torn, you may be able to go a little while until you're ready to add it to some other job you have planned down the road, especially since the car isn't giving any other symptoms. If on the other hand they are torn, then you are on borrowed time, and you should replace or rebuild your axles asap.



But from my experience, "worn axles" seems to be one of those ailments mechanics are fond of over-diagnosing. Somebody told us the ones on our X5 were in need of replacing soon, even though I had very recently replaced them myself, so he was just trying to milk a lucrative and unnecessary repair bill out of us. So you might want to get a second opinion on this. Good luck.

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[BeBe]

Thanks for the input.

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[Ryan]

They like to do that with brakes as well. A year ago a shop told my wife she needed to replace the rears on her Audi. I said no and as you have to replace the rotors with the pads...so what if they get down to the rivets and start making noise before you get around to it. They are still fine by the way.

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[Cloud9...68]

[quote name='Ryan' timestamp='1364221962' post='140557']

I said no and as you have to replace the rotors with the pads...[/quote]



Sorry for pulling this thread not only off topic, but onto another car, but this is a major pet peeve of mine. BMW also claims you have to replace the rotors with each brake job, but this is pure yak squeeze. Dig out the minumum allowed rotor thickness for your wife's Audi (for a BMW E46, it's around 17.2 mm, iirc). I checked the thickness last time I changed the pads on my daughter's car, and found there was tons of material left of the rotors, so I had them turned, and was left with a thickness well above the minimum spec. In fact, they were so thick, it might be possible to get one more round out of them, although that may be pushing it. I've confirmed this with other people on the BMW forums.

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[MB968]

Greg, if you can get under the car, here's my test. You can always get the half-shafts to rotate a bit, so I wouldn't let that be an issue. My two reasons to replace are torn boots as noted above. You can actually go a long time with them like this as long as the tear/hole is small as it is more likely you'll just be loosing grease rather than getting a lot of mat'l into the CV joint. Of course, loss of the grease will lead to eventual failure. If it is a bad tear/seperation, I'd get to it real soon.



The second way to tell, is to just grab the half shaft and try to move it up and down close to each CV, while laying underneath the car. Do this with the tire off the ground, and rotate the tire to several locations and repeat the test. If you have one of the four CVs that is worn, it will show some looseness, a good/new CV will not feel loose when you do this test. If you find any that are loose this way, it's time to get it into the shop and get it replaced. In my experience you'll know when one is loose, rather than tight.

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[BeBe]

I haven't ok'd the work yet, but I don't have access to the car to see the boots or check for play myself. The car is about 1 hr away. This is my first experience with this shop. It is such an uncomfortable feeling until you can get to a level of trust with a mechanic. I went to this particular place because they are the "model expert" on the 944/968 with the local PCA chapter. I'll probably talk to the guy one more time before making the go/no-go decision.

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[MB968]

Good luck, hope it all works out. You can ask for the replaced parts if you get one of the half-shafts done. I know it doesn't guarantee anything. But, I always feel if they have to give me the parts, its more likely that the parts are actually in need of replacement.

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[BeBe]

I did go ahead and get the CV joints and boots replaced. I took the car to that shop based on a personal recommendation of a friend that uses them for his Porsche and because they are supposed to be knowledgeable on the 968. That being the case, I trusted that they were being straight with me. Trust has to start somewhere. I'm very happy to have my car back. Now, if it would just start seeming like spring... I much prefer top down driving.

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