Grease Spatter & Rattle from Left CV Boot

[lothian]

2005 Honda Odyssey 130k

For the past couple weeks an intermittent muted rattle has been coming the front corner of the van as I roll over smallish bumps in the road. Lately, I can feel the rattle subtly in the steering wheel. I removed the driver’s side wheel and found the grease around the inboard CV boot, along with spatter on the transmission case and PS bellows and return line (see images below).

grease and spatter limited to area around inboard boot

spatter on the transmission case

spatter on steering bellows

driver’s side wheel cavity.

I have no idea if this is the source of the rattle I hear in the cabin, though clearly the (cv joint) grease indicates a problem and I have to fix this now. I inspected the boot and I can find no cracks or damage of any sort–It looks in pretty good shape, in my opinion. Could the boot band simply be loose or worn? If so, is this an easy repair? …or does the axle have to come out.

And while the rattle that got me to remove the wheel in the first place led me to this discovery, I still haven’t found a conclusive source of that noise. But I’m suspicious that, given the fact that I can feel it when I can hear it, this is the spot. And given the mileage of the van, the left-side driveshaft assembly needs to be replaced (~$150 from HondaPartsNow as of the date of this post).

I welcome knowledgeable advice and experienced recommendations.

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Topic

[zero]

Given the age of the vehicle, your best bet would be to either replace the boot and service the joint, or replace the axle. If there is any contaminants getting in there, which there is because Honda CV grease is orangey yellow. it needs to be removed and the joint regreased. Doing all that and reinstalling a possibly bad boot would be counter productive.

Does the rattle happen when the brakes area applied?

[lothian]

Thanks for the feedback on the significance of the color of the grease. You’ve validated the importance of including clear pictures within a post. I’m going to replace the entire left side driveshaft assembly (44306-SHJ-A01).

Interesting you ask about brake noise…
The rattle only occurs when I roll over bumps or road imperfections. However, intermittently over the past few months, I get a grinding/scrunching noise from one of the corners when I brake–I’ve never been able to identify which, as the sound telegraphs into the cabin and I can never hear it from outside the van. I did a full brake job on all the corners, but the sound returned–then disappeared–then returned, etc etc…

But wait. There’s more.
Occasionally, when I drive at a sustained speed within 20-40mph, I hear an intermittent metallic rattling/ringing sound (imagine the noise a loose heat shield might make) with coinciding subtle vibration in the steering wheel. The noise ceases immediately when I let off or pop the gas pedal. Sometimes it returns; other times it does not.

So there you have it: four seemingly unrelated-though-coincidental issues, each a symptom of eleventy-bazillion different things:
1) Blown-out inboard CV joint;
2) chronic “loose-suspension”-like sound when I drive over road imperfections;
3) occasional “grinding/scrunching”-like brake noise; and,
4) occasional “loose heat shield”-like rattle/ringing noise.

I hope after I replace the left side driveshaft more than just that first item is fixed.

[lothian]

The deed is done. I replace the left side driveshaft (44306-SHJ-A01), a job that was much easier than I expected.

I had hoped that by replacing the driveshaft, I’d knock-out four issues in one repair mentioned previously. Nope.

Turns out item 2 (‘chronic “loose-suspension”-like sound when I drive over road imperfections’) was caused by worn stabilizer links (51320-SHJ-A02) on both sides. Items 3 and 4 (‘occasional “grinding/scrunching”-like brake noise’ and, ‘occasional “loose heat shield”-like rattle/ringing noise’, respectively) remain mysteries of an intermittent kind.

[Author]

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