ok i have a 94 touring and i got to looking a the u joints while i had the shaft out. they are leaking a small amount of grease but the thing that gets me is they are lumpy( i guess thats a good way to describe it) both the front and rear u joints do it and in all 4 directions. is this normal? the car makes no vibration or noise so i was a bit shocked to find the lumps in the u joints

 

I wouldn't sweat it. I've yet to hear of a 3rd gen having bad U-joints on a driveshaft - same thing with the old TurboII, the driveshafts NEVER go out on TII's.

I would only worry about it if you get classic driveshaft problem symptoms - whole car vibration that increases with speed, noise from the drivetrain, etc.

All driveshafts that I've seen that were bad (NA 2nd gens, they go out frequently) had VERY mangled U-joints. Like you couldn't even flop the U-joint around, it was siezed up.

Dale

 

Happened to my FC. So I replaced it with a used one. And about a year later, started having the same beginning symptoms when I sold it (informed the new owner of it though).

 

ok, i figured with the brace keeping the diff and tranny in check the shaft really doesnt get to flex.... off i go to reinstall the shaft