Dirttracker18

Who wants to play a little game?

Follow along as I explain why it is important that I follow my own advice.

I often tell people, on this forum included, to not jsut throw parts at a problem. A step by step diagnosis is the only way to fix a problem correctly and not waste time and money.

Lucky for me I only wasted time but at this point in my life I would have rather wasted money. That's really why this simple repair became an odyssey. I have very limited time these days with two young kids at home (2 and going on 4) I work full time and my wife is building a business. Times are crazy around here

A little background to me, I was a mechanic before my current career, but that was almost 20 years ago I have also been building, maintaining and racing cars up until a couple of years ago. I consider my skill level good.

So here's the game. I'll tell you what my symptoms were and you give me your guesses as to the problem and them we will move to the next part of the game. That is if anyone cares to play

So I am driving my 2004 Screw FX4 in deep snow (on road after a snowstorm) and my ABS lights comes on. After thawing in the garage the light is out but comes on days later (once again in deep snow). This happens on and off for a while and around the same time I start hearing a noise in the front end. I am getting a whirring (sp?) sound that increases with speed and gets quieter with a right hand turn on the highway. This noise seems to be getting a little worse day by day.

Now all diagnosis and repairs are complete but here's the game. I'll tell you my assumptions after some responses and what happened next.

What's the issues here based on what I have given you?

tbizcuit

Just a heads up I know almost nothing about car but Id love to learn. I'm gonna take a stab and guess the issue is somewhere in your timing chain I.e slack in the chain.

Tanner2

vac actuated hubs?

svtmann

Front hub bearing.

IceFishinFool

Driver side hub

johnny_tucson

Sticky caliper?

bobkyle2

Gauge cluster is bad... And the noise was door not shut good. Thats my answer.

Dirttracker18

That's Ok thanks for playing along

I'll get back to you later

Getting warmer, now be specific

Funny you should say that, we'll talk more later.

No but I have a caliper issue now, related to the repairs. Apparently the pads had something on them. I am hoping it works its way out before I have time to pull them apart.

I will need new rotors and pads this summer so I'd rather not waste time pulling them again.

The short answer is no, not a sticky caliper.

That was my first though but I had been drinking so I figured I better sleep on that one



So contrary to IceFishingFool, my experience has been that if it is a wheel bearing then it will get quiet when unloaded, so the inside of a turn.

My guess with limited time was passenger front wheel bearing. It was getting worse so I limited my driving over the Easter weekend and used the wife's mini van

So time is a serious problem as mentioned so I took a chance and ordered a wheel bearing from Amazon prime (best price I found and free two day delivery). I them changed said wheel bearing and went for a drive.

The noise was still there

So now I spend some time researching as I am putting the kids to sleep via the couch snuggle. I am suspecting a 4x4 actuator issue so I go back out after the kids are asleep and pull out the vacuum tester.

I have no vacuum at either actuator (which makes sense since there is only one line to both of them).

So now what is the problem?

IceFishinFool

4x4 solenoid under the hood on the fire wall?

technokami

Drivers CV axle is my guess, had remarkably similar symptoms in my old Grand Prix.