Hey all. I've been chasing the famous clunking noise in the front of my '06 for over a year now. My steering column has been changed, the intermediate shaft, stabilizer links. I've checked all my bushings, shocks...everything and found nothing until the other night. I was checking yet again and I grabbed the passenger side axle to move myself around under the car and it's kind of loose where it goes into the transmission. I know that there is generally a bit of play there, but this is quite a bit. I can wiggle it up and down and when I do, I get a light knocking noise that I'm pretty sure is my clunking when I drive.
Has anyone experienced this before? Any ideas what the problem may be? Am I looking at replacing an axle or having the transmission torn apart?

Thanks,
Speedy

 

I'd think its either a failure of the inner CV joint or excessive wear on the splines at the transmission end of the halfshaft. Its going to be hard to tell exactly without pulling the halfshaft to check the splines and CV joint off the car. Did you notice any leakage of grease from the CV boot or wetness on the transmission case?

 

No, there's no leakage or wetness at all.

 

Well I hate to say it but you may be faced with pulling the half shaft to get a clear picture of the failure mode. I'd bet you're dealing with a failing inner CV joint, but you might want to have a tech check it out for their opinion.

 

Thanks. I'll have the dealer check it out when it goes in for the notice I got about power steering failures on them.

 

speedemon,
Was curious of what year model you have, because I never received a notice about the power steering... I have a '10 model; maybe it was 'fixed' on the newer models???

Oops! I see now that you have an '06... Duh.
Mo

 

The notice only went out in Canada, the US is still waiting.

 

The notice says for 2006 models, nothing about any other years.