[Guest]

When making a slow fairly tight right hand turn I hear a very noticeble clicking/clunking sound. I have been told that it is most likely the front roight CV joints wither outer or inner, and this makes sense to me considering the nature of the sound. I believe that it is possible to purchase the inner CV joint by itself but the outer you must buy together with the main shaft (or vice versa). Does this sound correct? Both were very expensive options from Ralliart Aust. What is the cost of these parts in the UK?

 

[Guest]

You need to investigate further because it may not be the CV joints at all!
You have an RSX which is based on the RS2 and therefore you have the front LSD as standard. The 'clunking' you are experiencing could well be the sound of the 2 halves of the diff 'knocking' against each other due to the bolts breaking. I do not know of anyone who has had CV joint problems but I do know of 5 or 6 people who have had this diff problem including myself. Let me dig out the FAQ on it....

Front Helical LSD
Cars affected:
Evo 4-6.5 (possibly other Evo's with the Helical LSD fitted)
Symptom:
A regular 'clunking' noise from the front with a every rotation of the wheel but only on full or partial lock. It will 'clunk' all the time on lock regardless of suspension travel. It can affect the left, right or both sides. The symptom is exactly the same as CV joint wear except inspection of the driveshafts will reveal no joint problems or 'play'. The 'clunk' can also be heard coming from the transfer box if listened to from underneath the car.
Problem and cure:
This is a problem with the factory fitted Front Helical (Torsen) Limited Slip Differential. The Helical LSD is standard fitment on RSII's, optional on the RS and were never meant to be installed on the GSR's however it seems they were fitted to some GSR's when the production line ran out of normal open type diffs.
The 'clunking' noise occurs because the bolts securing the two halves of the diff start to break or come loose. The 'clunk' happens on full or partial lock as that is when the diff is under the most strain. Generally no damage will be caused to the diff unless it is left for a long time before it is repaired.
The cure for this is to replace ALL four of the securing bolts, even if some are not broken, with high grade items.
Note there is very little detail on how to strip the Transfer box and diffs in the workshop manuals. You can find details for stripping the Transfer Box in the installation manual for the upgraded Ralliart front LSD which is available here - http://www.poweraxel.com/ralliart/catalogue/pdf/instructions/evo6/cp_lsd.pdf . Also note that there are no official services parts other than the oil seals for inside the Transfer box so the bolts will have to be sourced from a fastener supplier (use 12.9 grade M7x25mm bolts with countersunk heads).

Also have a look at this thread in the Gearbox/Transmission forum for some more pictures.

 

[Guest]

Thanks again Heave Ho, Hmmmmmm it sounds exactly like my problem. I couldn't download the file from the link you left in your post as acrobat reader said it contained an unrecognised information format.

At what miles did it show up in your EVO? Did you fix your incidence by yourself or did you take it to a service center? I'm not familiar with diffs so I wouldn't be able to look at it myself. How complicated is this job for a qualified service center? How much would it cost in the UK?

 

[Guest]

HH6:

Responding here because my own clunking/clicking problem has not gone away (I started thread on this some time ago). Haven't had a chance to have the diff's checked, partly because I'm not sure any of the garages around here have actually done this on an Evo, and partly because if/when I do this, the car is likely to be out of commission for a long time, if parts will need to be sourced. Plus the problem doesn't seem to be getting any worse.

My symptoms are consistent with what you described, but a few more details would be helpful (AussieRSX, are these symptoms like yours?):

A) the clicking (it's more of a clicking or ticking than a clunking) sound does NOT show up until the car has been caned a bit-- i.e., only after at least 10-15 minutes of spirited driving;

B) the sound does NOT show up, unless drive is being fed to the wheels. That is, on a slow, tight turn, being taken purely on intertia (with either the clutch engaged or the gear in neutral,) the sound doesn't appear. But do this with even very slight drive being fed in, and it shows up;

C) both A and amp; B just mentioned seem to be accompanied by the grinding or graunching vibration which only shows up on semi- to tight-lock. Sensation reminds me of my old 4x4 Jeep with permanent all-wheel-drive, and my mechanic from my garage says that the old rallying Galant VR-4's used to do this too. He also said that changing to thicker LSD fluid might help.

Should I be worried about this? Or am I just being paranoid?

Thanks!

 

[Guest]

Hi Hesperus,

My symptoms sound a little different to yours.
A. Sound is heard from cold and is moreof a clunking sound.
B. Sound is heard both with power fed and with no power fed to the wheels
C. I don't really experience any grinding

I hope this helps, looks like a different problem.

 

[Guest]

AussieRSX,
Before condemning the diff check to make sure it is that. Click through to that other thread I mentioned below the diagram and that should give you details on how to check for sure.
Also have a look at this thread which details the results of my fault and this thread which was my intial posting on the problem with my car.
The pdf file gives details on how to strip the transfer box and rebuild it (including torque settings). Try upgrading to the latest Acrobat Reader, it works on mine (full Acrobat 5) but some of the fonts are not recognized (bloody Japs ).
It cost me £270 all in but that was at a very reduced rate by a main dealer. Any trustworthy, decent mechanic should be able to sort this problem out. If you want details on how to do it then let me know but that pdf file should give you virtually all you need (I only wish I knew about it when I had my problem!).
Sorry I missed the bottom bit of my FAQ off above, it should have read at the bottom:

Approximate cost of repair:
£250-£500 inclusive (4-5 hours labour)

 

[Guest]

I`m currently having this problem on my Evo6.

Cars been into dealership 3 times now, they stripped the front diff first time around, second the drive shafts, and the brakes the 3rd time!.its going back in Monday morning (not that they know it yet! ) and i`m going to get them to check the front top suspension mounts and front dampers.I`ve been told from a very reliable source that that will be the problem.(*esp. after having everything else checked out)

My car knocks very intermitantly(some days alot, others hardly at all), in a rotational way, from the front right for the car.More so when turning/manovering right ( a perfect way to get it to knock on queue is to drive on the raised up cobble stones that are on alot of the mini roundabouts in the U.K. now, thus putting the car on a camber) .The reason for this i believe is that there is less load on the top right mount when turning right, hence theres movement in the bearing and the damper.

On thing i did notice tonight, after driving down some very muddy roads, i thought it would be a good idea to jetwash the car, esp. under the arches....the car knocked loads on the way home, maybe i cleared the dirt away alittle and made even more room for the joints to move and make knocking sounds??

Rich.

 

[Guest]

RichW,
I also heard about the top mounts from a couple of people when I had my LSD problem. One guy in NZ went to a dealership and had the driveshafts, steering rack and some suspension components replaced and no luck! They had it back one day scratching their heads and whipped in a top mount from a rally E5 they had knocking about........silence!!!!! He was convinced that was my problem but I wasn't so sure.

I think Maxi also had the same problem. I believe he re-greased his and cured it.

You should be able to tell if you can feel the 'clunk' stronger on the strut or driveshaft, that's what convinced me mine was the LSD it was stronger on the driveshaft and non existant on the strut.
Let us know how you get on.

 

[Guest]

Will do.Certainly interesting (if rather annoying) stuff. Its now 17:30 so i guess they are`nt getting back to me today.They are also servicing the car and they are extremely buisy, it was`nt booked in either so i`ll give them a few days

The service manager actually admitted they were stuck and needed all the help they could get, though he did say that Ralliart had never mentioned anything when he spoke to the about the problem.

Rich.