CV Joint or Ball Joint

[DirtyBirdRacing]

Hi,

For the last week or so, my car has been making a loud ticking noise from the front passenger side wheel well, and I am not sure if it is my CV joint or my ball joint. Here are my symptoms:

It clicks loudly when I make sharp left or right hand turns, like when backing out of my driveway.

It clicked when I was driving but that was only for a minute or so, and then it stopped and has not happened since. I noticed that when I gave it gas it stopped clicking, abut when I let off the gas it continued to click, and then after a minute or so like I said it stopped.

The boot that covers the connection form the tie rod to the steering rack has some fluid on it , but a very thin coating.

This has happened 3 times, once while driving and the other two while trying to do it to find a problem, when I let off the gas and coast to a stop, at about 20 mph the wheels will start to shake and then at 10 mph it will turn and make a quarter turn to the right by itself.

The wheels shakes above 45-50 mph, this may be an alignment issue.

I thought it was the cv joint at first but now I am not sure. Thanks a lot for any helpful information you can give me and sorry for the long post.

Bill

 

[ease]

Look to see if your cv boots are torn...if they are, grease will come out of the boots and dirt and moisture can reach the cv joints...this causes the clicking noise you hear. My cv boot tore open and all of the grease came(which made a mess), so I replaced the whole axle.

Hope some of this info helps.