[Vwdiesel] odd CV failure

[Shalyn Shourds]

Last night, I got to go to the rescue of a friend (the guy that towed 
the Caddy across the South).  He was supposed to drop by my house, but 
called me minutes later to say that his A2 NA Jetta  wasn't moving.  
He'd just replaced the driver's side half axle a week ago and so my 
immediate thought was that he'd gotten a bad joint.  I loaded up my 
tools and drove to Ft. Worth where he was out in the parking lot of his 
office.  He thought the driver's side was OK, so I grabbed the passenger 
side axle, and there was no physical connection between the axle and the 
wheel.  The outer joint was completely broken.  The really weird part 
was that the boot was completely intact.  It was old so the axle had 
been on there quite some time.  While I did find that my outer joint was 
cracked just recently, at least the boot had split in a couple of places 
and there was a reasonable chain of events involving a terrible rebuilt 
joint and a bit of water introduction.  My friend claimed to have just 
heard the joint making noise that morning and total failure that night.  
(He can be a little oblivious.).  I picked up a new half axle, we got it 
installed, and as far as I know, he made it back home, but I just 
thought I'd share that odd failure.  Or at least odd to me. 

-Shalyn