You should contact a few other shops to find one that will replace the CV boot clamps.

Youtube is full of videos showing how to replace CV boot clamps. They should remove the old leaky clamp, inject some additional grease and install a new clamp while your original axles are still functional. This is far cheaper and a better alternative than cheap aftermarket axles.

The shop that replaced one on the old Honda I mentioned in a post above charged $60.

 

Thanks guys, I’ll take your advice and check out other shops. The reason this shop would not recommend just replacing the boots and clamps and adding grease in is because we don’t know how long the axles were leaking. It could be a long time and now the inside is filled with dirt, sand and other debris. They don’t want to replace the boots and have those external stuff trapped inside.

 

This shops seems to be intent on making money. The thin stream tells me, you have not lost any sizable amount. I would keep rather than trade down with after market stuff. Worst scenario is the CV joint lasts another 60K miles and then you can always replace. If you dont see a slop just zip ties it as suggested in my other post.

Salim

 

I agree, since the CV boot is not torn, just leaking a bit from a loose clamp, thus there is really no opportunity for dirt to enter the boot. The grease leaving would not allow any dirt to enter. Also it exits the side only.
If torn then the rip allows road debris to enter the CV joint through the tear as it is thrown up from the road. That is not happening in your situation.
If the axle still sounds OK, then it is worth the investment to shoot some grease back in then put a new clamp on it.
That shop just wants to make more money from you.

 

Good advice guys! I’ll check out other shops.

 

We went through this earlier this year. Both front inner CV boots were leaking from the axle side of the boot not the CV side. The boot kit was used and the axle shaft or CV joint was not replaced. At 119,000 miles and living in the desert, I thought it be best to replace the boots anyway. The boots where they attach to the axle were cracked and the clamp was not tight enough to compensate for the rubber being just worn so grease was slinging out there. In order to replace the boots the whole axle hast to come out though so it was a good chance for an inspection to confirm that the joints were still OK, which I figured anyway since rotating the axle produced no unusual feels or grinding or clunking when it was on the car. Since you only have 69,000 miles, if there are no funny noises or feels to the joints when you rotate the axle, you could just refill the grease and put a new clamp on it as long as the rubber still look good which it should at that mileage. Probably no need to order a whole boot kit in your situation and save a lot of coin as others have said. Good luck.

 

This thread is some good stuff, now we know to look for any sign of grease leaks when doing the yearly drive train inspections.

 

Not to be a debbie downer but, a Lexus dealer wouldve fixed your problem for free.
Thats considered as powertrain w/c will be covered under warrantee.
You could still present a reciept of the repairs and see if you can get reimburesed.

I also agree with everyone that replacing the clamps would be a better option than replacement non OEM axles.

 

Hey folks,

I want to give you an update on this. So after consulting with two different shops and have them looked at the boots/clamp, both shops let me know that the boots and the clamps are in very good shape. Both places recommended me against replacing anything and just continue to use the car until I hear noise when I turn my wheels. One of the shops is the same one that will replace both axles for about $400 that I mentioned on above post, only if I want to of course. Both places also said I'm good for another 30k miles, my car is now 73k miles, it's been 5k miles since I first noticed the issue. The second shop cleaned all the grease for me and so far I haven't seen anymore leaking out...maybe there's nothing else left to leak...lol. For now I'm just gonna keep it the way it is, yes i know it's crazy...

 

My car is same problem. But it on driverside.

 

Hi everyone, it’s been 3 years, I just want to give everyone an update. We decided not do anything and continued to drive our 2014 RX350 as is for the last 3 years, my wife put in 20k miles without any issue from both axles. I regularly checked to see if there was any more leak and everything had been squeaky clean until we took the car from So Cal to Vegas last week, a 610 mile round trip and our only long trip in this car in 3 years. I checked the car after we got home and saw that grease had leaked out and splattered to other areas similar to what happened 3 years ago (pictures above). I’m going to take the car to the shop to see what they say, the last time they told me to continue to drive and only replace when I start to hear noise, car was 69k it’s 90k now.