Technical Seat Marbella - Driveshaft joint CV boot replacement

[BellaTheMarbella]

Hi there! Posted on Panda thread as it's the closest thing to my Seat Marbella hope that's ok, I don't know anything about forums...

My little 1993 Seat Marbella Fun 903cc has had an advisory for Driveshaft joint constant velocity boots severely deteriorated on both nearside and offside front outer.

My question is, as a newbie who wants to fix her own car but gets worried about effing it up but hasn't done so yet but there is always time to start now... Is this something I can fix myself? Looked in the panda manual as they are pretty much the same car, and it looks ok in theory but I'm absolutely terrified... Is this more or less possible to do with an extra pair of hands or do I actually need to know what I'm doing?

Thanks for any helpful advice or tips, I do service her myself and have changed exhaust on her so only simple things really, absolutely no experience other than that and whilst I'd love to learn, I have limited time and resources!

Thanks again for any help!

 

[bugsymike]

Hi there! Posted on Panda thread as it's the closest thing to my Seat Marbella hope that's ok, I don't know anything about forums...

My little 1993 Seat Marbella Fun 903cc has had an advisory for Driveshaft joint constant velocity boots severely deteriorated on both nearside and offside front outer.

My question is, as a newbie who wants to fix her own car but gets worried about effing it up but hasn't done so yet but there is always time to start now... Is this something I can fix myself? Looked in the panda manual as they are pretty much the same car, and it looks ok in theory but I'm absolutely terrified... Is this more or less possible to do with an extra pair of hands or do I actually need to know what I'm doing?

Thanks for any helpful advice or tips, I do service her myself and have changed exhaust on her so only simple things really, absolutely no experience other than that and whilst I'd love to learn, I have limited time and resources!

Thanks again for any help!View attachment 459250

Before retiring I could easily fit CV boots on most cars within an hour of labour plus parts. I cannot comment on current costs.
Basically the job involves car safely jacked up, front wheels off, hub nut in centre of wheel removed, bottom ball joint undone and wishbone pushed down away to allow drive shaft to slide out of hub to access the CV boot, then with old boot out the way a circlip often has to be removed followed by a sharp wallop with a copper mallet and the CV joint is in your hands, new CV boot is slide on, CV joint repacked with the special very sticky grease and joint is slide back onto shaft and boot repositioned correctly and clips fitted, shaft refitted into hub, wishbone /bottom ball joint replaced, etc. etc.
Some use a greased trumpet to slide the new CV boot on without removing the CV joint from the shaft , there are pros and cons to this and it involves a certain amount of effort.
I have no knowledge of your competence, however as job involves certain tools you may not have, if your garage can replace the parts for a fair price , it may be the best option.
Another point, as the fault is only down as an advisory and not urgent then you have time to consider the best option.
The main thing to watch/check, is if the boot actually splits, the grease comes out and water gets in , resulting in eventually the CV joint it's self needing replacement, which whilst the labour cost is the same the parts will be much more, especially if they decide a complete shaft is all that is available given the age.

 

[the green vanper]

I'd say a little bit complicated for the first car job.

A couple of days ago I've uploaded the workshop manual, which should be helpful:

FIAT Panda x141 workshop manual eLearn

FIAT Panda x141 workshop manual scans taken from the online eLearn module. contains:

www.fiatforum.com

 

[the green vanper]

As for the spares, it is sometimes tricky to get ones, but workshops can use this fact to get more money on that.

On the bottom of the forum banner there's a link to the foum ePER, the FIAT spare parts catalogue. The search window is top left of the screen. I doubt that the VIN will be recognized properly, but you can browse by models and categories.

I have no idea which model is that, there were two models of Panda produced in 1993.

That shall give you parts number, so you could look on the internet on the availability and the prices.

 

[BellaTheMarbella]

Thanks for all the replies, super helpful. I think I will get a quote to get it done as I don't like the sound of it and it's very likely I won't have the special tools. I have basic tools and often have to borrow ones for different jobs.
I am not sure how long they will last, it has been picked up on periodically looking through the MOT history for the last decade so who knows when it will go...

Thanks again for replies, really helpful

 

[Blurredman]

How did it go?