Dave and I have been working on his Malibu with 130,000 miles on it. I am doing my best to keep it on the road for at least another 20,000 miles (or more). He seems to have problems with the driver's side brakes and when a bearing noise started, it sounded like the driver's side. Yep, I tore into that sucker and replaced the out side bearing on the driver's side. When the noise continued, I replaced the trans/axle or whatever the hell they call it now days. No improvement. I took it to the transmission guy who fixed it in July and asked him to see if he could tell me just what the hell is the problem.
The first thing he did was to check the transmission fluid and smell it. It was cherry red and no burnt smell. He then test drove it. he started out in low and accelerated. He shifted the lever in to 2 and it shifted very well with no hesitation. Same with 3 and all's well. About 30 MPH, the whine from the front wheel was loud. He said that if you listen, you can hear the noise change when you turn the wheel left and right. He indicated that one of the wheel bearings was bad and the noise was transmitted by the steering so you couldn't really tell which one.
Well, Duh, if I replaced the driver's side, it about had to be the passenger side. I stopped by the Parts Store and spent another $80 on parts. I now can change one of those suckers in less than an hour. Put everything in its place and the noise is gone. Isn't that the way things are, fix one bearing and it is the other that is noisy.
Oh well, it drives like a dream now and it will go to its grave with great wheel bearings. 'Nother day, 'nother project....
MUD
PS. It appears that the 80 dollars spent on an impact wrench and sockets was a darn fine investment for me.
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