Driveshaft gaiter - short life

[the_weaver]

I've just had a driveshaft gaiter fail after around 1.5 years, and a very low mileage. I'm just wondering what would cause it to fail so soon.

It's an outer gaiter, and it's split at the largest diameter end. I suppose it could be the band fitted too tight, but I can also see cracks in the rubber in other places, as well. Those cracks don't go all the way through though. However, that does suggest that it's a problem with general deterioration of the rubber.

The car is a ZX 1.9D, and the driveshaft is the type with the metal can on the inner gaiter. I can't remember what the make the gaiter was, but it wasn't a rubbish one. It wasn't a genuine Citroen gaiter, but it was a reasonable quality after-market one. It wasn't a universal gaiter either. It was exactly the same size and shape as the genuine Citroen ones.

I've got some theories as to why it went so quick:-

a) Bad workmanship by the garage. I'm wondering if they stretched the gaiter using a cone, or an air tool. It's not supposed to be a stretch gaiter, but it is rubbery, rather than hard plastic. Has anybody ever tried stretching a non-stretch gaiter? What happens? Does the gaiter appear to stretch ok, but then fails early on, because it's been streched past it's elastic limit. Or, would the non-stretch gaiter snap immediately when you try to stretch it?

b) Using an old gaiter. It's possible that the gaiter I gave to the garage had been sitting around in my house for some years. I've just had a look in my box of spares, and I've got some gaiters in there dated 2005. I suppose the gaiter I gave to the garage could have been from 2005, or might have been older than that. I never thought of checking the date codes on gaiters, but I suppose they might be deteriorating in storage. Rubber might lose it's elasticity over time. They look ok, but maybe they're not that good. Has anybody had any problems with old gaiters?

I'd be interested to hear any thoughts on this.

Paul

[steelcityuk]

With the amount of fake items on sale these days nothing would surprise me.

[markflip]

It's unlikely that stretching to fit would cause it to split at the 'big' end, non-stetch gaiters are likely to split as you try and stretch them too far when you fit them if anything I would imagine.

Rubber does deteriorate with age, if the gaiter was 5 years plus old and especially if it was stored in anon ideal environment (exposed to U/V or close to petrol/thinners vapours etc) it could well have been in bad condition when fitted. The stresses of being heated/cooled/stretched etc would soon tell and if it's going to fail anywhere it would be where it's compressed by the securing band. I'm afraid if you supplied the part and they fitted it 1.5 years ago, you'll get short shrift from the garage I imagine, so you're probably going to have to take this one on the chin.

[the_weaver]

It was stored in good conditions, in the house, in it's cardboard box, and inside another bigger cardboard box. Not near UV, or exposed to vapours.

It looks like the age of the rubber might be the cause of the problem then.

I'm not planning on taking it back to that garage, as it's too long to be still under guarantee, as you say. Also, I've changed my garage now anyway, after a few bad experiences in the past. I had that gaiter fitted for nothing originally, as they damaged the previous one whilst doing something else.

I suppose it could be a fake gaiter. There are plenty of fake bearings around, so I suppose there could be gaiters as well. I didn't buy it from ebay, but I suppose fakes could have got in some supply chains without people knowing.

Paul

[Peter.N.]

I have had this problem with cheap droplinks, they have been failing at about 15,000 miles because the rubber boot has perished and fallen apart, but as the genuine part is about six times the price and can't be guaranteed to last six times as long I will stick to the cheap ones, I think only a genuine one will last.

Peter

[the_weaver]

The good thing about droplinks is that they're easy to change, and faulty droplinks don't stop you driving the car. I think I've got some cheap ones on my car as well. The rubber boots look cheap, but they seem to be holding out ok.

I've now ordered some brand new driveshaft gaiters. They're supposed to be made by GKN, so they should be good. You can't get better than the people who make the driveshafts.

Paul

[Peter.N.]

I would think they should be OK. I have used pattern part driveshaft gaiters for years and never had one fail again but the Chinese don't seem to know how to make decent rubber.

Peter

[addo]

Not sure I agree on that last point - their "one child" policy seemed to work quite reliably!

[kenhall1202]

I once fitted QH replacement driveshaft CV gaiters to my 'Ronda' 213, (briliant engine, crap bodywork), and they lasted little over a year before perishing and splitting.
The stiffer plasticky type of gaiter used most recently by Citroen seems to be a big improvement in my experience.

[the_weaver]

I like those plasticky gaiters as well, but I haven't seen any that would fit my driveshafts.

I've heard people mention "vinyl" gaiters, and saying they last a long time. I've never seen them for sale anywhere though. I suppose "vinyl" could be referring to PVC.

Chinese bolts are often poor quality. I've had some, where the steel was so weak, that I was able to strip the threads just by tightening a wing nut by hand. That was an M6 bolt, but luckily not on a car.

Paul