Recently found that my front right cv axle is leaking and throwing grease all over the underside of the car. It's not yet making noise, but apparently, the axles and repair boot kits are on national backorder until at least January from Lexus. I do NOT want to put aftermarket parts on this car, as those axles are trash and simply do not last. The local Lexus dealer has tried as well on some cars without success. I'm at a loss on what to do. I've found a couple of online OEM parts sources that say they have them, but it makes me suspicious; even called one to confirm. I work in purchasing, so it wouldn't be the first time I tried to buy something online, have my payment go through like everything is fine, only to get an email later saying the item is on backorder; then refund me or just take my money until it ships in 6 months.

I just don't want to pay for this repair twice putting inferior parts on it. What does everyone else do?

 

Maybe try an aftermarket boot for now and re-evaluate if you need the axle? If so at least the boot kit *should* last you until when the axle comes in.

 

That is weird considering the same axle was used for 11 years on the ES and Camry V6.

Get an independent shop to put a new boot on the axle and regrease it. I bet if it still has grease that it can be cleaned, regreased and a new boot installed. The dealer probably won't do this and will charge more anyway. Use Google & Yelp to find well rated independent repair shops near you. You should never take an old car to the dealer.

Have you tried some of the big online OEM Lexus parts places such as Butler Lexus in South Atlanta, Georgia? My L Parts or Lexus Parts Now? You can enter your VIN to find the exact part.
​​​​​​https://www.lexussouthatlantaparts.com/

Or get a nice used one on eBay
https://www.ebay.com/itm/25625192301...Bk9SR5SDq5H5Yg

 

I think somebody is feeding you a line of bs.

https://www.lexuspartsnow.com/parts-...tml?pnc=04438H

 

Get OEM boots and replace them. Don't replace the axle if it is OK.

 

This issue was real as I too had my car into the dealer for a leaking passenger-side CV boot a month ago (I discovered the leak while changing the oil). The day the dealer took the car in they phoned to tell me they hadn't anticipated trouble locating the part but soon realized they are back-ordered everywhere. They held onto my car for 5 days until they were able to locate the boot. Fortunately in the meantime I had a 2023 RX350 loaner, at no cost, which I didn't mind at all. The dealer inspected the CV and was able to determine it was fine and just the boot was replaced as I caught the issue early during the aforementioned oil change. According to the dealer the inventory is now coming back for these parts.

 

I took it upon myself to call around nationwide to the large dealerships, and I located a boot. It should be in tomorrow, so I'll drop the car off at Toyota tomorrow night and have them repair it. Axle isn't making any noise. I did receive many responses of "it's on backorder nationwide with no ETA" regarding both the boot and the axle. I know better as there is such a thing as a national parts locate database at dealers. One in New Orleans said he'd look around for me, but I got on the phone and started calling places; found one shortly after. The parts guys are too busy to do the legwork. Sometimes you have to hunt things down for yourself.

 

I'm replacing the front cv axles on my 2008 Lexus ES350 this week with aftermarket ones from RockAuto. I bought the APWI ones which seemed a little more expensive than Trakmotive and GSP. I'm hoping they'll be good. My original cv axles are the OEM ones and the car has over 270k km. Both inner boots are leaking and throwing grease all over the undercarriage. The car vibrates a little upon acceleration, I've also started hearing popping sounds when making a turn on bumps (Idk, it could very well be me imagining things since I knew about the cv axles). I hear people complaining about aftermarket axle being trash. While I agree OEM ones are of superior quality, I doubt that having aftermarket ones will be that bad. I got a quote from a Toyota dealer the other day, they want $CAD 2400 for OEM parts + labor. They also offered to install aftermarket ones supplied by them (go figure) for around $1700 (parts + labor). The aftermarket parts they quoted are Professional Driveline (PDL) brand and they quoted around $900 for them. I looked online and I can get those parts for $300 tops. So I decided to go with parts from RockAuto as I have had great experience with the quality of their parts (as long as you don't buy the cheapest stuff there). I will get my mechanic to install them this week. I hope I don't regret this lol.

 

$1100.00 cdn is quite bit of labor for a max 1.5 hr job.

 

I think they quoted me 3.5 hours at $170/hr plus an alignment which is another hour or so. My mechanic quoted 4 hours labor. I think 3 hours is probably what it should be, but I won't complain. I'm sure if I let him supply parts, he would've done it for 3 hrs but would've had a thick margin on the parts.

 

Axle can be replaced without disturbing wheel alignment. As for aftermarket axle choices I find them all about the same which is to say junk. If you get 75,000 KM out of them consider yourself lucky.

 

If the price difference between OEM and aftermarket ones wasn't astronomical, I would've gone with OEM. And considering the car is 15 years at this point, I think it would be stupid to throw that amount of money into something that old. I normally buy OEM parts or really good aftermarket parts for things like alternators, brake pads, rotors...etc. I will request the mechanic to give me the OEM axles just in case the aftermarket ones turned out to be pieces of junk (which I still think is blown out of proportion) and will rebuild and use them in the future.

 

BTW, great to see fellow Albertans on this forum

 

100%. But if you can re-boot the originals always do that. I managed to make an OEM set last almost 500,000 KM (on original boots) had to retire them as the dust shield portion finally rusted out.

 

I was seriously considering rebooting the original ones, but I couldn't tell if the cv joints are still good. Bought the car in this condition and didn't know for how long they have been leaking. I also thought since the car already has slight vibration, the joints are shot and it's just a matter of time before they're completely gone. Do you think they still can be saved if the vibration is still minor?

Plus almost all shops I asked don't do reboots these days.