IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY CHANGED THE AUTOMATIC TRNSMISSION FLUID, NOW IS THE TIME TO DO THAT. DON’ GO FOR A “FLUSH”, SIMPLE DRAINING AND REFILLING IS THE WAY TO DO IT.

I have a '95 Caravan, FWD It has what I would call classic wheel bearing noise. Get it up to 45mph or so and it sounds like there’s a small engine airplane flying along with you. Turn left the noise goes away. Turn right, the noise gets worse. It sounds to me like it is in the front. (This is noise only - it doesn’t come with any vibration). Both rears had some contamination, a little play and a little noise so I just went ahead and replaced those - not having high hopes that that was the source of the noise because they were bad, but not that bad. The problem is that neither of the fronts show any signs of a bad bearing upon inspection. There is no play in the wheels, and they aren’t noisy when you spin them. Nothing is loose or rubbing. The tires are in VGC, and I moved them around with no change. The fronts bearings are the sealed hub type, and expensive, so I’m not going to replace them on a guess. The van has 217K on it & the fronts were done at some point, but it was so long ago I can’t remember - i.e. they could be due. But what else would act this way? And what might be the best way to find out?

Just made an appointment to have the timing belt (and water pump) replaced on my 2002 Honda Accord (4-cylinder). Other than the belt and pump, what else will they likely be replacing? Some places I called automatically said they’d replace all other belts at the same time. At this place, I can’t figure out whether they’re going to do that or not. Is it standard to replace all belts with the timing belt? Or is that unnecessary? I don’t want to get sucked into something I don’t need - this is already going to cost me $750!

I’m not saying that’s what wrong with your’s, but at 217K it’s worth taking a look at. Those mounts could be worn out or breaking down.

The price quoted is reasonable. The average Amercian spends about $1100 per year on maintenance, repairs and tires according to the AAA. If you are trying to save by not doing regular maintenance you will end up with an unreliable and short-lived car.

If the old crankshaft seal, which may be fine now, leaks one year from now, it’s going to be expensive to replace it. Do it now.

My wife had a 86 Honda CRX. She had the timing belt replaced at the dealer at the recommended interval. A few months later, the belt broke and the car tried to eat a couple of its valves.

One way to check for rough bearings is, with the tire off the ground, place your hand on the strut spring. Now slowly rotate the tire. If the bearing is rough, it sometimes can be felt in strut spring.

A former co-worker did a front brake job on a mid '90s Buick LeSabre, including replacing the rubber caliper bushings. He forgot to install one of the bushings and sent the car out the door. Needless to say, the customer experienced a loud clunk every time she stepped on the brakes, so she took it to a Buick dealership, which used a “chassis ear” to find the glaringly obvious problem. They charged the customer $120 per hour to use the “chassis ear” on the car for two hours, then charged $130 to install a $2 bushing in the caliper (a five minute job). How they missed that problem installing the microphones is beyond me, why they had to test drive the car for two hours is even further beyond me, and why the customer didn’t bring the car right back to us is also beyond me, but not as much as this tale of either inordinate ignorance on the dealership’s part, or a complete and utter ripoff. All told, we had to reimburse the customer about $400 to have the Buick dealership perform a diagnosis that any reasonable mechanic could have diagnosed in the parking lot and fixed in ten minutes for $20 or less.

Wheel bearingreplacement cost

The job should include a new belt tensioner, timing belt, water pump, serpentine belt, and new coolant. If any other parts appear worn they should be replaced at this time. Any radiator hoses and clamps and heater hoses and clamps should be replaced if they appear either “soft” or are still OEM parts.

Wheel bearingnoise test

I hope you checked at the dealer for this service as they often have the best deal on it. If you are at an independent shop, be sure the mechanic knows how to align the balance shaft gears or your engine will shake a lot afterwards. The rear shaft is tricky to align if you don’t know how, the gears are not marked.

Get at least 3 estimates and find out exactly what they will do. Then you can compare the services offered. I had the timing belt and the usual other items done in September on my 2005 Accord EX V6 and the dealer had the best deal by far.

The timing belt, tensioner and water pump are usually replaced as one kit. IF the serpentine belt that drives the alternator and other engine accessories is worn, it should be replaced too. Ask to see if it is worn it if they suggest that too. The serpentine drive belt has nothing to do with the timing belt, but it also wears out.

I tried my best to look at all of the suggestions here - and even did ridiculous things with a piece of hose & zip ties while test driving (the poor man’s “magic ear”/extended stethoscope). In the end I couldn’t actually verify for certain that it was the bearing.

I’ve heard of the “magic ear,” but never heard it called that. It’s referred to as a “chassis ear” by a lot of mechanics. I’ve never used one, but I have a story.

Frontwheel bearingnoise symptoms

True enough db4690. I should add that I didn’t change the water pump on my Corolla either, since it was working fine. And it continues to do so. Maybe this is just me, but I generally don’t change things out that are not being pulled out as part of the job anyway, unless they are already showing some signs of failure. But it’s absolutlely right that my water pump could have failed the day after I put everything back together, and I’d have had to do it all over again. Life is a gamble.

@GeorgeSanJose I NEVER changed the water pump on my 1995 Corolla. I changed the timing belt myself a few times. Each time the pump was fine. But I wasn’t paying for labor. If somebody’s paying me to do a timing belt job, I’d want to make sure than anything and everything under the cover gets replaced. That way, there won’t be any hurt feelings 6 months later.

It would respond to steering the way your’s does. I didn’t argue when they decided to replace the bearing. They were nice about it when that didn’t fix the problem and worked with me on the total repair bill when they aligned the engine and the noise stopped. I guess a mount was not isolating the engine and its vibration from the vehicle’s (Dodge Sedan) body.

Wheel bearingnoise when accelerating

Sorry oldschool - I thought my initial mention of it spoke for itself. I should have added that I am going to rig up a chunk of hose to my stethoscope.

If You Can’t Recall Replacing The Other Belts Within The Last Couple Of Years Then Have Them Replaced. The Only Cost Should Be For The Belts. They Have To Be Removed To Do The Timing Belt, So You Shouldn’t Pay Extra Labor. It’s A Good Time To Renew Them.

Read your owner’s manual to check on what actually needs to be done . The dealer’s list is mostly to generate extra revenue.

I’ve experienced front bearing failure and noise that could not be felt by spinning the unloaded wheel or rocking the wheel at the 0/180 position. It made plenty of noise going down the road, though.

Wheel bearingnoise quick fix

Also, how many miles on your Accord and has the timing belt ever been replaced before? It should be done at 105,000 miles or 7 years, whichever comes first. You are either late for the first change, or about on time if your mileage is over 200,000. This, of course, depends on when the first change was done.

I would however replace the valve cover seals with new if the valve cover needs to be removed in the process, which I think is the norm for most cars.

Have the timing belt tensioner and idler replaced. Have the crankshaft seal, camshaft seal and balance shaft seal replaced.

Sometimes these “whats making the noise” type problems have been resolved by using the “magic ear” (microphones that clamp on components).

It’s possible to have tight wheel bearings that do not make noise when the wheels are off the ground. Apply the weight to them and it’s a different matter.

Wheel bearingnoise dangerous

I just had this done on our 97 Accord for the second time. For $735, the dealer replaced the timing belt, balance shaft belt, serpentine belt, front crank seal, front cam seal, valve cover gasket, water pump and coolant. He also replaced an oil pump seal for an extra $10 because it was leaking and he was already in there, that is not a part of the package.

Have you checked the CV joints for problems? They typically pop and click when they go bad, but they can also make roaring sounds.

When I replaced the timing belt on my Corolla, I replaced both drive belts too. It’s very easy to do while everything is taken apart anyway; the belts themselves are not very expensive, $10-20 each. Since the water pump is being replaced, now would be a good time to replace the coolant with a fresh 50/50 mixture too, unless that has been done within the past year already. Make sure the shop uses the correct coolant type recommended by Honda for your car. If you are having any other problems like with the AC or the power steering, it makes sense to have those looked at now too. If something needs replacement, it takes less time if done during this timing belt change-out.

As far as I know, the tensioner has not been replaced. I have always done this sort of work myself but the Honda crank bolt is very difficult to remove and requires a large (3/4" drive) impact wrench to break loose. I have changed many timing belts in many other engines and have never replaced a tensioner, and never had an issue as a result, so I am not worried about it.

I had no idea that a “magic ear” was a thing - though I’d considered a low tech equivalent - just running a long piece of vacuum hose out & under attached to my stethoscope. I guess its not as nuts as I thought.

I’d be less inclined than others posting above to change the crank/balance-shaft/camshaft seals unless they are actually leaking already. Do you notice oil leaking on the driveway? If not, I wouldn’t replace those. If the new seal proves to be defective or incorrectly installed, you may create a new problem rather than prevent one.