1990 Honda Civic CV joints

My son who lives in San Francisco has a 1990 CRX and the CV joint is
clicking. Needs replacement Anybody got an idea what that costs? Just a
ball park figure, I know that depends on where u get it fixed, the area,
ect. but anybody had this done? General cost? I had CV joints replaced on
an Olds Toranado for $400.00 a side in the midwest- average shop= not
dealer. Any input would be appericated. Tom

 

I think you should be able to find an independent shop who
will do it for around $270 or possibly less. Background:

In 2000, for my 91 Civic at 112k miles, Firestone was
balancing my tires and told me the (front of course) left
and right outer CV joint boots needed replacement. If the
boots were torn, that meant I was a short while away from
hearing the clicking your son's car has and ultimate
destruction of the joint. Having limited experience then, I
okayed the work. They charged $195 a side. I do not know
exactly what they replaced or whether they used OEM. The
boots continue fine today, at 183k miles. Prices have come
down, from my reading, due to a greater availability of
rebuilt halfshafts.

These days replacing the entire half-shaft is customary,
since rebuilt ones are plentiful and so cheap, and the labor
is less by replacing the whole halfshaft. In 2004, according
to a well-known trade source, $200 was about the average for
a CV joint repair. One can reasonably speculate most of
these were for a halfshaft replacement. A lot of young car
enthusiasts go to a junkyard and pay a few dollars
(seriously) for a halfshaft. Then the labor is a couple
hours, worst case. On one's own, one may purchase a rebuilt
halfshaft from online Honda OEM parts dealers like
www.hondaautomotiveparts.com for about $135. Napa and
Autozone sell them for about $70 (lifetime warranty), taking
into account the return of the old halfshaft (the "core").

 

Thank you for the information, Better news than expected. Tom. [dad=payer
of auto fixes]