Axle replacement

So, around Thanksgiving I had my winter tire put on and the Costco guys said there was grease. Yesterday, my mechanic at the dealer said the CV boots were torn. Long story short, instead of just replacing the boots, he is replacing both right and left inner and outer axles. Maybe this will help with the vibration at stop when in DRIVE.

Also, he noted some oil around the intercooler but didnt find anything wrong with the hoses. Could overfilling the oil cause this?

He replaced a gasket over the valve cover and said the cam looked good.
I used Pentosin HP 5w40 from oil hammer.

ekkoh99 said:

Also, he noted some oil around the intercooler but didnt find anything wrong with the hoses. Could overfilling the oil cause this?

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Axles should help as long as there not cheap Chinese junk.

Oil seepage from the hose near the intercooler is common. As long as the belly cover/skid plate looks oily without lots of drips or puddles, it's perfectly fine.

Yeah, let us know if the vibration is better or worse and what brand axles were put in.

Tony

Oems were 800 on each side. He said they were remanu axles.

and the vibration? any change?

The car is ready, but I wont be back in town until next week. I will let u know.

I'm still trying to figure out how an axle could cause a vibration at idle when the car is not moving?

Brian's96TDIPASSAT said:

I'm still trying to figure out how an axle could cause a vibration at idle when the car is not moving?

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When an axle replacement cures the problem, my guess is the offending axle was a hair too long and at gets loaded at a stop and transmits vibration into the chassis. ...only a guess.

Got the wagon back tonight. The vibration at stop is much much better, almost not there, but neutral is very quiet.

I"m still wondering if everyone that's complaining about vibration at idle in d or r is due to extreme cold weather. My 05 has done this since new, slight vibration at temps below say 35 getting worse as it gets colder. Almost nothing above 40. No vibration in N at any temp.

I don't know if the weather is the reason that my axles got worse or if they were just on their way out regardless, but I can say that with new axles the vibration is no different in gear than in neutral.

I can tell you for sure that before de-chaining on my Passat, while at a stop light and in particular when the A/C was and in gear, It vibrated something fierce. Unbelievable actually...I would not be surprised however that axles will contribute to this issue. eyeguy, who did you get YOUR axles from?

^ Got 'em from Raxles

Brian's96TDIPASSAT said:

I"m still wondering if everyone that's complaining about vibration at idle in d or r is due to extreme cold weather. My 05 has done this since new, slight vibration at temps below say 35 getting worse as it gets colder. Almost nothing above 40. No vibration in N at any temp.

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My vibration at idle in gear started after cheap axles were installed late summer 2009. Definitly was the axles. Ordered Raxles and made a believer out of my mechanic.

plowboy_lurch said:

My vibration at idle in gear started after cheap axles were installed late summer 2009. Definitly was the axles. Ordered Raxles and made a believer out of my mechanic.

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Well, I guess it was the problem then. I'm glad I caught my right outer torn boot during a routine LOF and was able to replace the boot and re-grease before it became a problem. No problem yet with the left outer, close to 130K

Update here. I still had a vibration after the axles were replaced. I did the incline test and didnt notice a different. A few weeks ago i had a serpentine belt tensioner pulley fail and i had that replaced in addition to the alternator pulley and now the vibration is much better, almost gone.

Just changed axles over the weekend. Bought Raxles. Marty was great. I called him up and told him I made a big mistake. He said I bet you have CAS. Chinese Axle Sydrome.

I bought the cheap junk and had a small vibration soon after installing. I lived with it for a while. I had a couple of long rides lately and after one of them with the air on the car shook like crazy. My wife even noticed when we pulled up to a light. When I took them out the inner joints were loose. What a difference.

I thought before reading all the past posts that how could axles cause the shake. Learn something new all the time. Maybe it has to do with the engine being 90 degrees to the axles.

Stay away from the cheap axles and the aftermarket electric cooling fans.