Possible CV going out on the road between Detroit and Chicago

[rpureber]

I'm looking for a little help diagnosing a noise. I first heard it on the interstate (70mph cruising) maybe 75% of the way through a 325 mile drive. Now on surface roads I hear it more but it's intermittent. It sounds like a knocking synced with the rotation of the wheels, only when engaged in a gear... louder when accelerating than when decelerating. It's tough to pinpoint but it sounds like maybe the rear drivers side. This is on an 89 Syncro with a 2.5 Subie swap decoupled (so, in 2WD). I do not feel it through the steering wheel or in the ride whatsoever.

Any help would be appreciated. I do not have access to my laptop until the morning so I would appreciate avoiding the "use the search dummie" as that is not helpful.

I am in the Detroit area tonight and am supposed to drive to Chicago in the morning. Any suggestions on ability to drive on it, shops for help etc would be appreciated.

I also have what I think is an A/C fan not shutting off even though the A/C seems to shut off fine... but I'm more concerned with the knocking when driving.

Thanks

[MarkWard]

With the engine off, crawl under the rear of the van and grab a cv shaft. Move it in and out about 10 times, then do the opposite shaft. This will move any grease into any dry spots. Drive it and see if the noise has subsided. I nursed a cv home for 600 miles doing this every time I stopped.
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[danfromsyr]

I've had 2 friends not do anything when they heard a CV start to complain and both required a tow/service..

several times on a roadtrip I've had to quiet a CV and satisfy it's need for lubrication.
often I've resorted to squeezing some synthetic motor oil into the boot.
with a puncture in the boot and a pointed cap on the bottle (gear oil cap)
or a meat marinade syringe (dollar store) https://www.dollartree.com/assets/product_images_2016/styles/xlarge/226254.jpg

or a length of small tube..

the need is lubrication and to get home where you can have it removed and replaced or repacked.
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[jlrftype7]

A/ C ‘fan’.... sounds like the Radiator fan is running more than you are used to.
If your A/C is off, and the Radiator fan is running, where is your Temp gauge at?
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'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[rpureber]

Thanks everyone!

I bought it near Pittsburgh Saturday and my wife and I are road tripping home... and it's our first Vanagon with me being mainly an air-cooled guy.

I pulled the negative cable and re-attached and the fan seems ok now. The temp gauge has been reading fine and there seems to be no overheating etc I'm going to keep an eye on it.

I'll get under it in the AM and see what I can find out on the CV... also try to find a shop and/or the parts required.l and how to do the job. I'm ok to get the necessary parts and tools to do the job myself if we need to.

Than you very much and I'll post back with results.

[jlrftype7]

Disconnecting the battery probably reset a relay that controls the fan- keep an eye on that issue so you don’t wear out your fan or drain the battery due to a stuck relay.
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'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[YosemiteBound]

This place is so cool.
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1985 Westy Round Headlights "Liam"

[tjet]

Go to an auto parts house and buy a grease gun and a needle adapter, along with a couple grease cartridges. Also get a large piece of cardboard to lay on, and a box of laytex gloves & paper towels. Cut the clamp off the axle side of the CV boot so you can get the grease gun needle in there. After you get some grease in there, you can put a zip tie on the boot

[Marshj]

Welcome to Michigan!

Shop options are Orion Automotive in Ann Arbor, ask for Michael the service writer. We went to high school together, tell him you have a Vanagon and your situation. They work on 2-3 Vanagons in the are.

Your other option is Munks, in Waterford MI they are a restoration type detail of place bus specialize in Vintage VW.

If you overnighted the parts I could likely have my parents offer you a driveway and tools to do the work yourself if you chose. They are in Dexter Michigan.

[IdahoDoug]

Most NAPA's will have a grease gun, and a needle fitting. Just go nuts puncturing the boot and squirting toward the wheel (large) end and feel for the ability to insert in gaps and crevice (which are deeper into the joint itself). I say go nuts because who cares, right? If its a dry joint, you should remove the shaft, clean, reboot, regrease when you get the vehicle home to baseline it since it showed lube stress.

If it's a new boot, then what I'll do is wipe with brake cleaner after each hole, and dab silicone/rtv on it. Aim for the points on the boot you'd consider a valley instead of a ridge as that will make better use of the length of the needle, plus less likely for grease inside to force its way out by being inside a ridge and having centrifugal force pushing against your silicone.

For the length of your drive, I'd just squirt it and go.
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[dobryan]

X2 on using the needle thru the boot. In reality those tiny punctures mostly self heal and you can go a long way without replacing the boot. Hope you get home OK and pull that axle
and clean and inspect the CV.
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Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2002 Subaru EJ25 and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371

The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794

[rpureber]

Is there any reason I can't/shouldn't pull the entire assembly or at least the "trouble" side and pack from there? I am at my brother-in-law's house right now so I am lucky enough that he has a flat driveway, a bunch of tools, workspace and another car to run to the store.

It looks like shoving some grease in there or even disassembling it, cleaning, reassemble, grease pack and re-install would be the way to go. I'm guessing the only easier way would be an entire axle/CVs assembly to swap out... and that sounds like overkill as well as not likely to be able to source the part(s) locally at the last minute.

I'm still doing some research so I apologize if I just said something obviously stupid. I'm going to look testing that radiator ran relay and possible replacement if it's not working correctly. The previous owner just replaced the fan since it was making noise in certain conditions (what a nice guy!) so I'm guessing the relay is separate from the fan assembly and it was not replaced. I'd rather not burn out a fresh fan (or kill the brand new battery the P.O. also installed for me!... again, super nice guy).

Thanks SOOOO much for the help and avoiding any ribbing for lack of knowledge. I'm not new to on-the-road breakdowns, however, they've been with my aircooleds and the Vanagon is going to be a learning process for me.

[levi]

Sometimes those bolts that hold the CV joint get gouchered up.

They may take an allen or a 12 point, or a mix, lets hope for you that they all let loose without drama.
That's really the biggest unknown of the job.
A couple messed up bolt heads can double your time.

From memory I'm thinking 32 pound when tightening them back up, and after a 100 or 2 miles recheck. They can back out.
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but till I do I won't be hangin round.
Going down that long lonesome highway,
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[dobryan]

Yep. If you can pull the axle and clean, inspect, and repack the CV's that is a better thing to do.

If you run into problems with the CV bolts you can always punt and go back to injecting grease into the CV thru the boot.

Final CV bolt torque is 36 ftlbs. I go in two stages, 24 ftlbs on all, then 36 ftlbs...
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Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2002 Subaru EJ25 and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371

The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794

[oceanair]

Be sure to get the correct grease -- not wheel bearing grease! It needs to be a Moly grease for C/Vs.
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84 Vanagon Pop Top Conversion from Tin Top, 1970 Ghia - all sweet rides! Love em!
Previous: Green 72 Tin Top, White 72 Westy, Blue 64 Beetle, Yellow 71 Squareback, 2014 Jetta TDI Wagon - wish I could have them all back!

[MarkWard]

That's a lot of work for an assumption you have a CV that has dried out. I would try to affect the noise before I jumped in and started pulling axles unless you have one with a torn boot at this point.
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[IdahoDoug]

Agree with Mr. Ward. Don't over think this unless you are in my DNA pool of "fixing it until it's broken" (ha). If you have that much time/resource/tool/help it may be best to simply pull back the boot, visually inspect the grease, and then re-attach the boot. You'll know pretty easily if it's packed with grease and OK to run and all, or you'll easily be able to jam fresh grease in and be confident you've found the problem.

In the back of my mind is the possibility this is nothing more than the sound some astute listeners hear of the axle itself pistoning longitudinally and making that clunk. Lifted vehicles hear it most often as the heavy shaft is less horizontal and more sloped where gravity can cause the phenomenon. Is yours stock or lifted?

Anyhow, I wouldn't worry about stressing the fan, the battery or other stuff. Be careful on the CV torque - somewhere in the back of my mind there is an INCH pound torque here? Not sure - away from the Bentley at the moment.
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[dobryan]

Torque for CV bolts is definitely FOOT lbs. No INCH lbs anywhere...
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Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2002 Subaru EJ25 and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371

The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794

[shagginwagon83]

I thought it was around 33ft-lb
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Brandon
"Jo Ann" - '83.5 Westfalia EJ22e w/Peloquin
Instagram @joannthevan

[dobryan]