Gaiter woes both sides on my car. On the NS, I removed  front wheel to find CV grease explosion - torn outer cv boot. That duly mopped up (tip: 6oz poly dacron wadding sheet is a great for this job!), I noticed fresh, yellow grease around the top of the inner cv boot, on the driveshaft and dripping onto the subframe. The black cv grease had road dirt and grit in it, the yellow is clear and recent. Can't feel or see any splits or holes, clips are firm and boot doesn't move on the shaft (which is only 12mo incidentally). Is it likely to be coming from unseen boot damage or could there be another source?

 

There is no play, clicking, knocking etc in the joints so I'm only replacing the outer cv boot. Was hoping to do it on the car by undoing lower arm bolts and hub nut but is it much more work to pull out the driveshaft and replace the inner boot at the same time just in case? I'm away from home so a bit limited in what I can do, though I have most of my hand tools, clamps and vice etc are at home. And is this the right replacement grease?  Thanks!

Are you sure it's not gearbox oil leaking from the flange seals?

That's the wrong grease.

 

You need a "Molybdenum" grease, spec G 000 603 or G000 633.

if you carefully inspect the inner boot I think you will find a "breather hole" approx 1mm   there is on the SEAT anyway 

Are you sure it's not gearbox oil leaking from the flange seals?

 

Hmm, well its the right colour, can't recall how viscous the leak was now its been a few days. Going back under that side tomorrow to do outer boot and will have a good sniff around the transmission.  Thanks.

 

 

That's the wrong grease.

 

You need a "Molybdenum" grease, spec G 000 603 or G000 633.

I found those spec numbers in Haynes, not that it got me very far on google. They point to the grey lith moly grease I have.  Recollection had me thinking inners used different grease to outers, probably led on by the assumption that the yellow goo is leaking from my inner boot. In clearer frame of mind tonight, it occurs to me that is a probably an American thing, being mostly automatic, they'd have a tripod joint, hence different grease on the rollers. Manual transmission, cage & ball joint both ends, cv moly grease both ends. D'oh over. Which also probably means its not my boot leaking. That said, after the antics I went through with the garage last year (installing new wishbones because they couldn't figure out how to install just the bushes), I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they'd put white lith in there...

 

if you carefully inspect the inner boot I think you will find a "breather hole" approx 1mm   there is on the SEAT anyway 

Ah there could be, will inspect for that too. Its not a huge amount of leakage either, just dismaying to find having just cleaned the entire contents of the outer boot from inside my alloy...

Little update, not had a lot of time to spend on this issue yet.  

 

Gearbox seals are dry and intact. Does not smell like transmission fluid (according to another, I have no sense of smell in summer but pretty sure hayfever is no match for the stench of trans fluid).

 

Inner boot had a very light coating of new stuff (took car for a very short drive to check new brakes, other than that not moved it), but content its not coming from there and couldn't see a breather hole, not to say there isn't one but I very much doubt that its a OEM spec part now. Incidentally, the badly torn outer boot, installed 12 months ago by a franchise garage, had a cable tie at the narrow end instead of a clamp. The cable tie was spinning loosely, about 4mm gap between it and the boot. Incredulous is not the word. Have taken a little video and photos to send to their HQ along with receipt and little note suggesting they might like to refund the cost. Typically, I found the problem two days after the repair warranty ended (assuming they don't argue "wear & tear" anyway).

 

Found this potential culprit though: 

 

 

 

So it could be hydraulic fluid, leaking hose unions perhaps?  It is thickest here, brownish, quite gummy and older than the stuff I scraped from the boots and wishbone.  I know the CHF in the car should be green but Wynn's version of CHF11S is amber and its about the right viscosity. Can't think of any reason for it to have been changed though. Will check the pump this weekend, see if the level looks low and what colour it is. Thinking of putting some Lucas stop leak through the system to see if that resolves things.