Grease leaking from tie rod end?

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Noticed a clunking when I've been braking or turning, had a look under my car and noticed this grease leaking from my inner tie rod end. Gave it a wipe, looks black in color and haven't noticed my coolant level drop so fingers crossed it isn't coolant. Other side of car is bone dry. Think this might just be an inner tie rod + boot replacement job? Not sure how long it's been like this but the clunking has only been happening the past few days.

Photo of leak: https://ibb.co/bXbZVWZ
 
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19 Dec 2002
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2,002
personally i would clean it up and check for any splits or if the clip is loose, if its just the clip letting grease past, and it was me i would take off both clips , slide the boot away and really clean the joint and inside of the boot , repack with grease and use two zip clips to hold the boot on .
its possible that grit may have got in or the joint may be running dry and hence the clunk, worse scenario is new joint , but without looking its hard to tell?
 
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27 Nov 2009
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That's a inner CV joint leaking. Grease leaks out, joint fails, if it's making noise you'll want to replace it.

It's the drive shaft not a tie rod.

No coolant involved!
 
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Warrington
I think if it’s got to the point where it’s knocking/clunking it may need the driveshaft replacing due to excessive wear on the CV joint. Depending on the car I don’t know if it’d need the full shaft changing or the joint itself is a serviceable item.
 
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Update. The clunking was coming from a worn outer tie rod, the cv joint itself wasn't making any noise. The boot is in good condition, no rips or cracks. On my last service, my mechanic flagged up the clip on the boot being insecure, had this service done a few weeks ago so the leak is only recent. Decided to just re grease the joint and put on a new clip and see how it goes
 
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