Sebring driving noise

My wife's 2001 V6 Sebring Sedan has developed a loud driving noise.
It doesn't appear to be the tires and is sometimes almost like a growl,
which becomes loud after 50kph (30mph).
It started about a month back.

Any ideas what it is?
I suspect a bearing in a wheel or the drive train.

TIA.

 

If you sway the vehicle from side to side as the noise is happening will it
change or go away as you do it?
Possibly a wheel bearing.

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

 

wheel bearing

 

at the risk of saying "Me too", I had a similar event recently and it
turned out to be a front wheel bearing.

This was at a relatively low 30,000 km. I think there may be a quality
issue with these bearings as that is way too soon imho.

I was not able to get any "co-pay" in the work "due to the age of the
vehicle"

 

Many THX Glenn and philthy and rickety for your replies.
I tried the side to side Glenn suggested, also a road curve to the left
then right.
Turning to the left I had the noise, even worse on the road curve at
about 40mph.
Turning to the right much less or even no noise on the road curve.
So shall I conclude the right wheel bearing is the problem?

This car is 5 months before the 5 yr power train guarantee runs out.
The Docs say contact your dealer to get the coverage details.
Surely the drive wheel bearings are part of the drive train?
Does anyone know?

TIA; Gerry

 

Depends on the service contract and who it was purchased with. read the
coverage guide that came with it when you bought it. But yes, most do
consider a wheel bearing power train.

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

 

It's Chrysler's warranty; in Canada.

I'm was hoping that, but I just booked service and was advised the
bearings are not covered by the CDN Chrysler PT warranty.
They said that warranty covers engine to driving axle; the bearings
being just outside of the coverage. Darn!

 

no the wheel bearing s are not

 

It was the right front wheel bearing as suspected and the left one was
headed in the same direction.
So at a big bill my dealer replaced both front wheel bearings and wife's
Sebring is as quiet as new.

This situation has me concerned as this '01 Sebring has only about 20k
miles on it.
I'm wondering if:
-The original bearings just happened to be a bad batch.
-The original bearings were improperly installed.
- There is a design problem with these front bearings. The service rep
said 40k miles is the normal bearing life on this car. I find this very
poor as we have driven several other Chrysler FWD cars over 80k miles
since '86 and have never replaced the front wheel bearings.

 

If the vehicle ever hit something or was involved in an accident, If you
live in an area like I do with huge potholes throughout the city, that could
cause it. But the bearings do last longer then 40k.
Sometimes the person that is working on the vehicle will think the bearing
on one side is bad and replace it because of the noise. Then finds out it
wasn't the faulty one and now they have to sell you the other side to
actually fix the problem. Is this why they told you both bearings were bad??
Highly unlikely with that mileage that both bearings were bad, but I guess
it could happen.

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

 

If the vehicle ever hit something or was involved in an accident, No.
If you
live in an area like I do with huge potholes throughout the city, that could
cause it.[/QUOTE]
No. Just the normal rough Canadian winter spring roads, which several
previous FWD Chrysler cars have handled. Over 80K miles on previous
with no bearing troubles.

Yes, that's always been my previous experience.

He agreed with my analysis that the right bearing was the major noise
maker, but he also found the left one had some noise so it was felt to
be wise to replace it at the same time.

With the service rep saying they usually last 40K miles, only twice what
we got, but still so soon, I got wondering why the Sebring bearings fail
so soon.

 

No. Just the normal rough Canadian winter spring roads, which several
previous FWD Chrysler cars have handled. Over 80K miles on previous
with no bearing troubles.

Yes, that's always been my previous experience.

He agreed with my analysis that the right bearing was the major noise
maker, but he also found the left one had some noise so it was felt to
be wise to replace it at the same time.

With the service rep saying they usually last 40K miles, only twice what
we got, but still so soon, I got wondering why the Sebring bearings fail
so soon.[/QUOTE]

That bearing is the same on the Caravan, LH and of course Sebring. Same
design,same construction.

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

 

aftermarket bearinmgs 60 to 100 bucs how much at dealer 200.00+??
labor time???

 

Interesting as my '95 LH is over 80K miles and the bearings are OK.
So Chrysler got a very bad batch, probably from a lower cost supplier.

It still concerns me that the service rep said 40K miles is the normal
life of current bearings in the Sebring.
Has Chrysler's bearing quality become much lower?

You're very close.
Bearings= 2@ $105.=$210.
Labour= @2.1 units (hrs?)=$225.
NB: In Canadian $s, currently about 86¢ US.

I'm going to take up this issue of these very poor quality bearings with
Chrysler.

 

Not sure about your particular vehicle, but on the 99 convertibles the
wheel bearing is part of the "hub assembly". It is not serviceable, not
lubricatable, and must be replaced as a unit. Parts are $65-$90 per
side on the Net.

These hubs are known to have a very low lifespan, it's a common
problem. I have no idea what the labor cost to replace is, but it's a
fairly complicated job.

Any real competent mechanic can do it, no need to go to a dealer.

 

Why are you going back to extremely old and dead threads (one from 2007,
one from *2004*!!, and this one from 2006) and resurrecting them?

On replacing hub bearing assys., DIY'ers do them all the time. Not a
big deal.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Not to mention you can sometimes just rotate them 180 degrees and
get another 50K out of them.

Ted

 

I actually was successful the first time I tried that in the late 80's
on a car I had (actually it was 120° - three holes/bolts in the hub). A
second time I tried it for grins, it didn't work. It depends on what
element of the bearing gets pitted or brinelled, and where - i.e., if
it's the stationary or rotating race.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

BOTH front bearings on my '94 T&C have had that treatment. It
worked for them ;-)

Ted