[220 GSi turbo]

Just going back to the driveshaft and CV joint separation for a moment: I needed to change a gaiter on my wife's 25 GTi last week and the CV joint is well and truly stuck in the hub.

The problem was solved by attaching two sets of Mole grips tightly to the driveshaft and then using a hammer and drift to knock the shaft in towards the gearbox (there is enough 'slide' in the inner CV joint to allow the shaft to go back far enough to release the circlip from the outer joint). I used two sets to make sure the grips would not just slide along the shaft and I can confirm that no damage was done to the shaft.

To create enough room to fit the new gaiter comfortably, I also disconnected the tie rod and anti-roll bar from the lower arm and the lower arm from the subframe: this allowed the hub to swing outwards.
Lining the shaft and circlip up with the outer joint correctly after fitting the gaiter took a few attempts, but after that everything went back together smoothly.

[MatthewL]

Sounds a good technique. I’ve not changed mine using my tool in the end as the noise vanished when I changed the engine mounts. I have no idea how it fixed it. Must not have been the cv joint making the noise, possibly creaking from the engine mounts?

[Johnny 216GSi]

Sounds a good technique. I’ve not changed mine using my tool in the end as the noise vanished when I changed the engine mounts. I have no idea how it fixed it. Must not have been the cv joint making the noise, possibly creaking from the engine mounts?

Possibly. If you think about it though, if one or more of the mounts have failed then the engine isn't actually sitting where it should be. It may be too low for a start. This would create a permanent misalignment between the gearbox and wheel sides of the driveshafts. Although the outer CVs will compensate for this, it does mean that even with straight-line driving, the CV joints are permanently flexing many times per second. It also means that during a turn whilst driving, the CV joints are being pushed a bit further than they should ever be as they're coping with the wheel turn plus a little bit of offset error (also at several times per second).

[MatthewL]

Superb point. If the CV joints are at their limit in normal use, the engine has visibly risen with the new mounts so that could push it past its operating range