Dear Volks,

In my experience, greasing a noisy CV joint is a temporary measure,
gaining you some time to save money for new joints.  If a joint is
noisy, it is because the balls are popping across worn spots on the
outer and inner races.  Cages and balls are also slightly loose due
to wear, so the balls "clunk" around in the space.  I repacked my '84
GL, and it eliminated the noise for about 10000 miles (another year).
The noise came back, so I decided to replace all four joints.  Fresh
grease just helps the balls slide over the worn spots, but the wear
is still there.

Clean up the old joints well and they make nice coffee table
conversation pieces.  (OK, I confess.  My wife made me take them to
the office, where my engineering students get to talk about them.)
The inner and outer races had grooved wear marks.  New joints are
quite tight.

My experience with an '84 Audi 5000S was similar.

John Hung
Auburn, AL