Yes I'm thinking driveshaft, thanks for the advice on it being the left one, as it was the driver's side that he removed. I'm at just over 75,000 mileage :)
Removed you say, does that mean he only regreased that one driveshaft i wonder?
You do not need to remove driveshafts to regrease the joints on most cars, i use a long pencil like adaptor on the end of my grease gun, from which i can unclip the small end of the rubber boot prise open then slide the adaptor all the way through to the joint and pump grease in to my hearts content, if of interest its made by Sealey, 'needle nose grease dispenser' model no AK447...the small end is usually much easier to not only get at but also to reseal because the bulk of the grease is at the other end of the boot, you can do a better job by regreasing the joint itself at the main end but not always so easy to get when in situ, especially the inner joint.
I'm yet to replace a drive shaft on any of my cars, (except for when i snapped a MB rear shaft during a rather rapid take off, which examination proved to be a faulty casting probably from new), thanks to regreasing at a sensible mileage...JohnF would approve :-)...and i have shut all manner of clicks up, even if the CV couplings are worn if you pump grease in the clicking will change note for enough time to diagnose where the problem is, but as said before many people ignore the inner joints due to them not being steering joints but they still see a lot of angular movement over undulations so can run dry, plus they can see more heat from exhaust passing close by.
We replaced drive shafts on my sons CRV of the day once but this was to cure vibration, no noises at all.
Not sure on the Starlet but the longest of some unequal length front shafts are in two sections having a support bearing between the two halves, these generally give no trouble but worth looking at, and there's the remote possibility that the inner joint has pulled out of it's position in the gearbox output side, often held in place by a spring circlip fitted in a groove in the splines, so needs to be prised out of place to remove, but also won't go back in of its own accord if it has popped out and must be 'popped' back in place similarly...this is unlikely because chances are transmission oil would be leaking from that joint as the oil seal would not be running in the correct place on the inner coupling.
Has the other side been checked at all, and have the hub nuts on all wheels been checked as well as the most obvious of all, the wheelnuts all round.
The separate final drive i referred to...most FWD cars the differential is part of the whole gearbox, and i'm fairly sure this is the case on your car, but some designs have a separate housing for the diff, with its own oil filler and drain points, doubt it in on the Starlet.
Edited by gordonbennet on 19/09/2019 at 14:38
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