Warped front driver side axle

ANSWER : Hi there. Wheel location is determined by imagining you are sitting in the driver seat. Your, and most vehicles today, have 2 axles in the front; certain vehicle still have a solid rear axle housing, but retain 2 individual axles as well. It sounds like you may have bent the strut, lower control arm, ball joint, and/or hub when you hit the curb. I suggest having a qualified technician perform an inspection to avoid replacing unnecessary parts. Your Mechanic has several available technicians that can assist you with a suspension inspection.

ANSWER : The steering rack and pinion assembly is mounted in rubber bushings; they may be deteriorated and allowing the rack and pinion to contact the sub frame making the knocking noise.

The other component to look at is the struts upper bearing and rubber bushing. These get dry of lubricant and should be lubed with a teflon grease when installed so the rubber will not get damaged.

Have someone feel the top of the strut mount under the hood while the steering is turned back and forth to see if the knocking or popping is in the strut. The rack and pinion bushings should be inspected from under the vehicle.

If either or both are bad then they will need to be replaced.

A mobile mechanic, such as one from YourMechanic, can come to your home or business to inspect the knocking noise at your home or business.

ANSWER : Hi there. These door issues are common on this vehicle. Most of the time the main issue is the master door lock switch on the driver door. It sounds like you already replaced that. As for the sliding door problem, most of the time, this is a failure within the door module or it can be a connection issue.

I typically take the door apart and check the connections on the module and inside of the door just to make sure that there is nothing apparent in there. If the connections and the wiring are fine, then I use a scan tool to check the module to see what the inputs and outputs are doing. If you need to have this looked at, consider YourMechanic, as a certified mechanic can come to your home or office to diagnose your door problem and recommend a repair.

ANSWER : The wheel bearings on the front of your car are within unitized hub assemblies and thus the grease that is placed within when the hub is manufactured is permanently sealed inside. It will not leak out. If the bearing has failed that is typically due to overtightening of the axle nut when the vehicle is re-assembled during the repair. The nut that holds the CV axle to the hub can ONLY be tightened with a calibrated torque wrench and the nut has to be tightened only to exact value published in the Factory Service Manual. Shops and amateurs will sometimes use an air tool or an ordinary wrench, contrary to the explicit instructions, and the consequence is the axle nut is overtightened and the bearing is guaranteed to fail prematurely. The other common cause of premature bearing failure is the use of cheap aftermarket bearings (or hub assemblies). If you use the OEM (dealer supplied) bearing or a recognizable, reputable vendor such as SKF you will be better off. The grease you are seeing is from another source and that is likely to be the CV outer joint. You can check to see if the outer CV boot is torn or damaged. If so, the grease has come out and CV joint failure is not far off. To get the bearing inspected, and replaced if failed, please request hub assembly inspection/replacement. To obtain service on the CV joint, please request CV joint inspection/axle replacement. If you have further questions or concerns, do not hesitate to re-contact YourMechanic as we are always here to help you.

ANSWER : Request that a professional alignment shop use a tram to carefully and completely measure the unibody and compare all such measurements against the data set out in detail in your vehicle’s Factory Service Manual. Using that strategy it will be easy to conclusively and authoritatively determine if the unibody is damaged. If the unibody was damaged in the collision it will have to be repaired, if cost effective, or obviously the insurance company will have to make you whole on your claim for damage. If you have any further concerns, do not hesitate to contact YourMechanic as we are always here to help you.

ANSWER : The drivers side axle will have a male end on the CV joint with a retainer clip that goes into the transaxle. The passenger side has a female end on the inner CV joint. Both axles outer CV joints have male ends. In order to remove the passenger side axle you will need to remove the three center axle bearing support shaft and remove the entire axle and inner shaft. Separate the inner shaft and the inner CV joint by clamping the inner shaft in a vice and driving off inner CV joint. You can then install the new CV axle to the inner shaft and reinstall complete axle into the vehicle and secure three carrier bearing bolts. Just a note to only remove one axle at a time from the transaxle or damage internal to transaxle carrier bearings.

ANSWER : From what you’ve described, your power seat has an electrical issue. There is separate control setting for each seat position. The power seat has motors that drive a track assembly to move forward or backward. The motors or related wiring could have failed causing this condition. This will require an inspection of the power seats system. Consider YourMechanic if you need assistance with getting this done.

ANSWER : Hi there Dave. Unfortunately, without seeing pictures of the component you are talking about, we are unable to tell you for certain what part is leaking. In most cases, the first component to break is the CV boot; which will split usually in between the coils on the boot. When this occurs, it splatters grease under the front end while the CV axle spins. The other two components you are talking about are actual differential seals on the differential itself. You might want to read this article on how long a differential output seal last, as it will describe it’s location.