After 78000 miles, the front NS drive shaft outer CV joint gaiter has split next to the clip at the drive shaft end – a common problem from what I can gather. I’m now wondering whether to have a go at replacing it myself or leave it to a garage, especially as I’ll have to do the job outside. :S

Does anyone know how much the dealers charge for the job or what parts are needed if I have a go myself? I assume I’ll need a new driveshaft / hub bolt? What’s the tightening torque for this bolt?

Cheers,

Andrew

After 78000 miles, the front NS drive shaft outer CV joint gaiter has split next to the clip at the drive shaft end – a common problem from what I can gather. I’m now wondering whether to have a go at replacing it myself or leave it to a garage, especially as I’ll have to do the job outside. :S

Does anyone know how much the dealers charge for the job or what parts are needed if I have a go myself? I assume I’ll need a new driveshaft / hub bolt? What’s the tightening torque for this bolt?

Cheers,

Andrew

i bought my cv boot from andrew page, and it come with the boot, grease and the end nut, cant remember the specifc torque to hand though :(

very very easy to fit, no point taking it to a garage unless you consider yourself completely incapable, took me about 1hr-ish

A dealer charged me about £100 quid when mine went on my Fabia - same, N/S boot (meant grease all over my alloy every 5 mins - not pretty). Was a job I probably could have managed but didn't have the time so had to take it in.

Parts weren't expensive, it was mainly labour which is about an hour I think. Think you have to split the hub to do it.

It's not a hard job to do just a horrible messy one, from memory a genuine boot is just over £20, you also ideally need the correct 'pliers' to do the metal bands back up again otherwise the boot is likely to keep popping off, these are approx another £15 - £20.

I would imagine the cost from an independent to be between £80 - £120, depending on location etc.

i did this job on an astra and the boot had a joint in it which was closed with superglue easy to do and lasted for years , no need to remove the drive shaft, perhaps the same is available for your car

It's not a hard job to do just a horrible messy one, from memory a genuine boot is just over £20, you also ideally need the correct 'pliers' to do the metal bands back up again otherwise the boot is likely to keep popping off, these are approx another £15 - £20.

I would imagine the cost from an independent to be between £80 - £120, depending on location etc.

Agreed about it being messy!

I think a boot kit consisting of grease boot and new clips are around £20-£30 when i bought mine.

An alternative to the tool, is to grind hook like teeth onto the end of a set of Adjustable Pliers Like These

I must admit that it takes some force to squeeze them the handles together, but does work with a bit of effort and patience.

Edited 5 January, 201115 yr by Browny_37

Thanks guys for your advice – it does sound a relatively easy if messy job. Bearing in mind the weather forecast this weekend (would be working outside) and the need to keep the car mobile, this time I’m going to opt for the easier if more expensive option and get an independent garage to do the job.

Phoned three independents for quotes which from ranged from £102 to £110 whereas the main dealer wanted £254

Did look at the DIY option – the boot was £11.40 from Europarts and I’d probably need a boot installation cone and the hose clip crimp pliers to do the job properly which come to another £33. There’s a kit available that consists of a split boot that is glued together for around £15.

Cheers,

Andrew

£254 to replace a cv boot!!! thats madness! it shouldnt take more than a hour to replace & the part shouldnt be more than £30 even at a dealer. Are you sure that price wasnt for the cv joint to be replaced?

£254 to replace a cv boot!!! thats madness! it shouldnt take more than a hour to replace & the part shouldnt be more than £30 even at a dealer. Are you sure that price wasnt for the cv joint to be replaced?

IIRC the parts are £21 + VAT and it's 1 hour labour.

I had mine done at an indy for about £70. That was IMHO well worth it to save me the time off work and getting CV grease all over me.

£254 to replace a cv boot!!! thats madness! it shouldnt take more than a hour to replace & the part shouldnt be more than £30 even at a dealer. Are you sure that price wasnt for the cv joint to be replaced?

I'd asked for a boot replacement - shall we say I was gob smacked. The guy said we do use genuine Skoda parts – must be gold plated ones! :p

Got the job done today for just short of £100 and they washed and vacuumed the car – result. :yes: They did say they had to remove the driveshaft from the gearbox before freeing it from the hub as it had seized. Now thinking it was worth paying for someone else to do the job.

Cheers,

Andrew

I normally remove the driveshaft anyhow, makes it a lot easier. If anyone is doing one DIY and is struggling to get the joint off and they really are tight on the Octavia II if you have the 27mm headed OE bolt with the big washer on it grind it off. Then wind the bolt back into the shaft, the extra length now means the bolt hits the end of the driveshaft and pops the joint off.

I found my breaker bar was a perfect fit down the centre of the hub (after removing the bolt) I let the bottom ball joint go at the wishbone, and then tapped breaker bar until the shaft came out of the hub.

After 78000 miles, the front NS drive shaft outer CV joint gaiter has split next to the clip at the drive shaft end – a common problem from what I can gather. I’m now wondering whether to have a go at replacing it myself or leave it to a garage, especially as I’ll have to do the job outside. :S

Does anyone know how much the dealers charge for the job or what parts are needed if I have a go myself? I assume I’ll need a new driveshaft / hub bolt? What’s the tightening torque for this bolt?

Cheers,

Andrew

This is a somewhat delayed reply. I was charged well over £200 by a main Skoda dealer.My gripe is that I have had 3 boots over a period of 4 years, the first at 20,000 miles. (I have done a total of 34,000 miles). These failed on three different locations on the suspension. I have never had this problem on any other car, including a Vauxhall 1.5 litre turbodiesel in which I covered 115,000 miles.I think that either the manufacturing quality is inferior or that people are doing unnecessary work.I have a letter from Skoda UK dated 01 March 2011 saying that "this year to date we have sold 610 units (boots) across our range of vehicles". Presumably this means from 01 January 2011 to 01 March 2011.This seems a lot to me.Has anyone any ideas, please? My wife recently had a "regulator" fail on her Seat Leon passenger side front window. This cost nearly £300 to fix! I am now afraid to wind my windows down!

Mugwump,

Can't help on the CVboot issue, but the old Golf IV platform did have an problem with the window regulators (was the only thing that went wrong on mine in 4.5 years). Apparently they changed the design for the MK V. So depending on the age of the Leon it may be on the troublesome version.

Simon

Over £200 seems excessive for the CV boot, I had to fork out to get mine done for this year's MoT and baulked at paying £140 for the job. The bloody part only costs ~£20.

Mugwump,

Can't help on the CVboot issue, but the old Golf IV platform did have an problem with the window regulators (was the only thing that went wrong on mine in 4.5 years). Apparently they changed the design for the MK V. So depending on the age of the Leon it may be on the troublesome version.

Simon

Thanks regarding the window regulators. My Octavia2 is 05 model, my wife's Seat Leon is 02.She had the regulator problem recently. Is my Octavia 2 2005 likely to have the improved design? If so, then I can start winding the windows down again. My dog will be very pleased if this is the case! Thanks.