eiremed Posted August 26, 2004 Share Posted August 26, 2004 recently purchased 1996 legacy wagon. it has been smelling of smoke and last night i noticed a small amount of smoke from the hood. upon inspection i noticed it was coming from the passenger side of the engine down low. this is what was smoking (the green thing): what is it? i checked the oil and realized that it is overfilled. could that be causing this? any help would be much appreciated. cheers, craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingbobdole Posted August 26, 2004 Share Posted August 26, 2004 HOLY CRAP! Is that a hole in that green thing?!?!?! Thats the inner cv joint. How on earth did you get a hole in it? There are two reasons that it might be smoking. 1. CVs require lube because they are what , in this case, makes the axle be able to be at an angle and still spin. there are bearings and the like inside and with no lube, its metal to metal. thats high heat which burns what little grease is in there. 2. the grease shot out all over your cat, the big shiny thing under the green thing. The solution is that the entire cv axle needs replacing, if that is indeed a hole. Don't drive it, thats a safty issue, it might seaze and sheer. Wow, thats impressive. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setright Posted August 26, 2004 Share Posted August 26, 2004 It's the inside CV joint, and that's the number catalyst just below it. That thing gets VERY hot and because it's so close to the CV joint.....Mine looks the same, but I have never noticed it smoking. MAYBE, an overfilled gearbox will leak oil across the CV seal and cause smoke. Unless it continues to smoke, I wouldn't worry about it :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setright Posted August 26, 2004 Share Posted August 26, 2004 Okay, king looked a little closer at the photo than I did, SORRY! THERE IS A HOLE in your CV joint, get it replaced and try to argue for a warranty repair, since this "is a common problem" and they should know that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingbobdole Posted August 26, 2004 Share Posted August 26, 2004 ohh, and no that will NOT have any relavence to engine oil level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eiremed Posted August 26, 2004 Author Share Posted August 26, 2004 the photo is misleading. there isn't a hole in the "green thing". that's oil sort of caked on the outside of the thing. i figured that was the cat-converter below it. it seems like the oil is dripping down on to the cat-converter and actually causing the smoke. so, is it possible that the oil is leaking out of this CV joint because the gear-box is over-filled with oil? it would seem to me that this is a bit of a fire hazard, too? should i worry about that? thanks for your input guys. craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urabus1995 Posted August 26, 2004 Share Posted August 26, 2004 I had exactly the same thing on my 95 Wagon. It was a tiny tear in the CV boot, which was allowing grease to be thrown onto the CAT. After replacing the boot, the smell and smoke slowly went away. Check the condition of the boot, all the way over its surface. Seemingly a very common problem, since that boot sits so close to the extremely hot CAT, which causes the rubber to perish pretty fast. If not the boot, then probably an oil seal at the end of CV joint is leaking. Hope you find the source of the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subie Gal Posted August 26, 2004 Share Posted August 26, 2004 that's not your CV that's your DOJ seal both are parts of the axle 1/2 shaft cv is the outer part of the axle, near the hub doj is the inner part of the axle, connected to the tranny/front diff. Unless there is an obvoius tear in the doj boot? you probably just need a new doj seal. very very common issue. there is a seal which is supposed to sit just inside the end of that 'green thing' (green thing is the inner part of your axle 1/2 shaft) you need to pull that off of the tranny, replace the seal, regrease if needed and reinstall it. there is a pin that is holding that doj into place you should also replace the pin as once you tap it out, it may not seal correctly once replaced and you'll have more seepage and leakage hope this helps. good luck Jamie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertherr Posted August 26, 2004 Share Posted August 26, 2004 This shaft seal can not be replace without first removing the toothed looking piece in the photo. It screws out after removing the locking tab. It has an o-ring you should replace, too. I would suggest replacing the inner boot while the shaft is removed. It is common for this inner boot to tear. I have had it tear on two different Legacy's. Bert. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setright Posted August 26, 2004 Share Posted August 26, 2004 CV is an acronym for Constant Velocity. Unlike a "universal" joint, a rotating CV joint will maintain the same angular velocity either side of the joint, even at very large angles of deflection. I would use that definition to back up the consensus in this thread, that the green thing is a CV joint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subie Gal Posted August 26, 2004 Share Posted August 26, 2004 stand for? dunno and dont care the GREEN THING is actually known as the outer joint for the axle. the ring on the end of it... known as the DOJ BAFFLE PLATE the seal in the end of the joint? the DOJ seal how do i know? i work for Subaru and sell these parts for a living. also have replaced 3 of these seals in the last 2 months on my race car.... but hey! what do i know! i'm just a girl Jamie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setright Posted August 26, 2004 Share Posted August 26, 2004 So, are we looking at the same picture? If that's called the "outer" joint, what do you call the joint that lives at the other end of that axle? In the picture I am looking at, I can see the gearbox, the green thing, and a rubber boot which is secured either end by a metal band. Then I see the axle heading off toward the hub. The seal that keeps oil in the transmisson is not part of the half-axle. The half-axle can be removed without oil running out. Eiremed! Maybe there is no leak. Maybe the rubber boot was replaced by someone who was a little ambitious about how much grease to put in, and then didn't clean up afterward. Let the car cool down, and clean the joint with a dry cloth, and see if more grease appears in a few days time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setright Posted August 26, 2004 Share Posted August 26, 2004 Looking at the stains on the catalyst, it does seem like they have been left behind by grease, not oil. Obviously, that would require real-life inspection to verify. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setright Posted August 26, 2004 Share Posted August 26, 2004 "but hey! what do i know! i'm just a girl Jamie" What tosh is this? Don't blame other women for your narrow band of knowledge. Your gender has nothing to with this. Stop using this pathetic excuse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nug Posted August 27, 2004 Share Posted August 27, 2004 DOJ: Double (I think) offset joint. Basically, in a nutshell, it's a CV joint, designed slightly differently, but doing the same thing. The old-school guys can answer this more definitively, because they are always breaking them The boot tears, splattering the cat with foul-smelling grease, which results in foul smelling fumes. Replace boot, end of dilemma. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subaru X Posted August 27, 2004 Share Posted August 27, 2004 OMG that thing is horrible! by the way. Did anyone tell this guy he should also drain his oil to the proper level. I mean even though it wouldn't cause the car to smoke...I wouldn't want someone having this misfortune already to be having more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
friendly_jacek Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 recently purchased 1996 legacy wagon. it has been smelling of smoke and last night i noticed a small amount of smoke from the hood. upon inspection i noticed it was coming from the passenger side of the engine down low. this is what was smoking (the green thing): what is it? i checked the oil and realized that it is overfilled. could that be causing this? any help would be much appreciated. cheers, craig Notice that you have oil seepage on the outer side of rubber boot, too. You could have one of these bad axles filled with incorectly thin greese from factory. I had one with the same symptoms (made in 1999 though) and required regreesing the joints (done under warranty). So far so good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eiremed Posted August 31, 2004 Author Share Posted August 31, 2004 thanks again for all the replies! it sounds like a pretty simple fix. are there any special tools i'll need for this job? where is the best place to get the parts on-line? can anyone suggest exactly which parts i'll need? cheers, craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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