grinding or growling noise on my TC

3362 Views 7 Replies 5 Participants Last post by goofy173, Sep 21, 2012

goofy173

Discussion Starter · Aug 26, 2012

I've pulled my hair out trying to figure out what is wrong with this 2000 Chrylser TC. Initially I thought it was tire noise, and I did blow out a tire at road speed a month ago. When I got the new tire on, I figured the sound would be gone, but no luck. 2 weeks later I rotated the tires and thought the sound had moved but now I realize its the same, after replacing another tire thinking it was flat-spotted.

The sound is hard to create in words. Kind-of like na-na-na-na-na, a very low sound, gets worse on turns at speed, especially curving left, and I can feel it somewhat in the steering wheel. Seemed like it was in the rear, but now I think its the left front.

So is this bearings? I don't want to go to all the trouble of replacing any if I don't need to, although I think they might be original, and at 220k miles they certainly may need replaced.

Yesterday, since I thought it was the left side, I jacked up that side and did everything I could to figure out if it was bearings. Spinning the tires, grabbing the tires and trying to see if there is any play, and amazingly, I didn't hear, feel, or see anything to indicate bearings. As bad as the sound is, I really thought I'd feel or hear crunching from one of the bearings.

It definitely is worse when turning, and the higher the speed, the louder it gets. I'm about to take it somewhere and let them figure it out, but to me, that's an extreme event as I always repair my own vehicles and hate others working on them without my involvement.

so what do ya think?

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ImperialCrown

· #2 · Aug 26, 2012

If you can rule out loose lug nuts, axle nuts and tire noise, I would go with a front wheel bearing replacement.
You be able to should 'feel' the bearing roughness once it is off and spun in your hand.

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fjb37

· #3 · Aug 26, 2012

If the noise increases when turning left, I would suspect the right front bearing. If the 3rd. gen. vans are anything like the 2nd. gen. vans, the bearings are not all that difficult to replace. I've done this on my 92 & 94 Caravans. Just time and ordinary hand tools are required. Good time to replace brake pads if they are getting thin as you have to remove the calipers to R&R the bearings. Just my $0.02.

FredB

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goofy173

Discussion Starter · #4 · Aug 27, 2012

You guys are my 3rd and 4th agreement with wheel bearings so I think I'll buy the front and do them. Then the rear if any noise continues.

Thanks!

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redblk63

· #5 · Sep 5, 2012

I agree with the advice, sounds like a hub bearing. For your information, here is my history of hub replacements, all on the driver's side. This is on a 1991 Grand Caravan.

193,360 miles, Bought hub for $143 from Dodge
217,000 miles, Bought hub for $130 from Kragen
287,000 miles, Bought hub for $62 plus hub seal for $7 both from non-franchise parts store

I suspect a drivetrain misalignment is causing my Caravan to eat driver side hub bearings, also drive axles. it's not too bad a job. By the way, my clue was the noise you describe, which was worse when the bad bearing was on the outside of the turn. It did not feel rough when turned while still on the car.

Two months ago my daughter's Volvo was "making a funny noise". It turns out the hub bearing had failed, as in the outer race had come off, and the brake caliper scraping on the disc was all that prevented the wheel from falling off. So, don't wait too long to fix it!

Good luck,
Larry - Pasadena

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chumley

· #6 · Sep 9, 2012

I have had a rear one go on my gcv and a front one go already on my 09 Journey - wouldn't you know it, it was just off warranty (I believe it was the brakes overheating that transferred the heat to the bearing and cooked it as the Journey has the same problem as the Caravans with eating brakes). The funny thing is it sounded extremely loud and like you I thought I better get it changed quick before it disintegrated, but surprisingly it wasn't as bad as I had thought - it was quite rough though. Shouldn't be too hard to change. Good luck.

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goofy173

Discussion Starter · #7 · Sep 21, 2012

The result is that I replaced both fronts and it fixed it. Actually, I had bought the parts, and I was planning on replacing them this weekend, and I took a shot and called my uncle's mechanic who's looking for work, and he said he'd do them for $125, so I had them done. I did a lot of searching to find the cheapest hubs and Amazon had them for $28 and shipping was free.

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goofy173

Discussion Starter · #8 · Sep 21, 2012

I completely blew the outside wheel bearing on the right front on my E-150 just 2 months ago. I was on a toll road 3 miles from home and had to have it towed as I didn't want to replace it on the busy road. The axle nut keeper and cotter pin were gone. Since the smaller outer bearing was gone, I was able to pull the disc off easily after taking off the caliper. The axle nut had partially melted and was just barely hanging on. When I went to remove it, i couldn't get any wrench on it, but just tapped the back of the nut and it fell off. It was my fault as I had just done the bearings a few months before and I dug from the back of my mind to torque the axle nuts to 27 ft-lbs. and it was supposed to be 17!

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