Having difficulty isolating wheel bearing noise on 02 Venture...

My 02 Ventue began making a whining noise, it sounded like from the rear of the van. I checked the rear tires and they were slightly cupped to I tried rotating them to the front.

Well the front end vibrated enough I didn't like driving it so I put new tires on the back and the orignal front ones back where they were. Now the noise is even louder and more pronounced and definately sounds like a wheel bearing.

The trouble is I'm having real difficulty telling which wheel. If you ride in the back it sounds like it's coming from the front and if you're driving it sounds like the back.

If you pull the wheel hard left and load the right side wheels it gets quieter and conversely if you pull hard right and load the left it doesn't change or gets slightly louder so I'm fairly sure it is a left side bearing.

I figured it would eventually get loud enough I could figure it out but it hasn't. Just really annoying and now the Traction control off light and ABS light come on shortly after starting down the street. Usually when I hit the first good bump.

If anyone has any good ideas on how to figure out which bearing I need to replace I would appreciate it. I don't want to waste time and money changing a good bearing, then having to change the bad one. I normally don't have this much trouble figuring it out. By the way it is an AWD van.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Tom:banghead:

only thing I could suggest is (1) jack up the front end and put your hand on the bottom of the sping at the bottom of the strut and spin the front tire as fast as you can.(vehicle not running and in neutral)you will be able to feel the vibration of the bad wheel bearing upward throught the strut.you can do this on all 4 wheels. also check for any play in any of the wheel bearings.or (2) you can support the vehicle on jack stands (but a lift would be prefered)raise the vehicle have somebdy get inside take the vehicle up to speed and listen with a screwdriver at each wheel bearing for an excessive humm.

If you pull the wheel hard left and load the right side wheels it gets quieter and conversely if you pull hard right and load the left it doesn't change or gets slightly louder so I'm fairly sure it is a left side bearing.


That's how I diagnosed my right rear wheel bearing was bad....opposite loading from yours, of course....changed it out and all quiet now....but mine wasn't AWD, FYI....

Indeed AWD makes the identification process problematic.
I wonder if with traction control OFF and three wheels blocked one could spin the 4th wheel with engine running in Drive?...THis is a question, not an advise......but with my front wheel drive, this is how I revealed which front bearing was shot....it would clearly hum as soon as rotated under power. WHen it happened in the rear, rotation by hand was the way..but I doubt this can be done efficiently when tied to a differential.

Thanks for the advice everyone. The weather is warming up enough here to actually look at it.
My plan at the moment is to put all four corners on jackstands. Remove left wheels and place vehicle in gear. I'm going to try listening to the wheel bearings with an ultra sound gun that we use at work for listening to bearings, gearboxes, etc.
I'll post and let you know what I discover.

Thanks, Tom

Just don't be suprised if the plan doesn't lead to a conclusive diagnosis...without the loaded weight of the vehicle on them, the wheel bearings might sound/feel just fine....I know when I checked my right rear with it on a jack; I couldn't tell there was anything wrong with it...good luck!

Changed out the suspect wheel bearing tonite. Other than one bolt is a bear to get at, it went well.

I finally just drove it long enough that the noise got loud enough I could definately tell it was coming from the left rear.

As soon as I pulled the rear wheel off I noticed a telltale track of black grease (as in wheel bearing grease) splattered around the inside of the wheel.

Guess maybe that would have been a good sign to look for a month ago!
Anyway, if anyone else has wheel bearing trouble, check the inside of your wheel and if it has grease on it that may well be your trouble bearing.

Thank you to everyone for your help.

tom:)

And thanks for posting the result.....