99 plym grand voyager 3,3 clicking noise

[Mareshalu]

Ok, first I hear this clicking noise coming from the serpentine belt , seems like the tensioner or one of the parts in motion is loose. When I spray the belt the sound goes away and comes back in 2 min.
Second, I have a loud friction sound when driving around 60-75 mph and kinda goes away around 80mph , I have to hold the steering wheel a little to the left when driving straight, and when driving with the noise if the curve is to the right it totally goes away while turning and comes back in straight line. (Not the same on curve to the left).
Any suggestions will be much appreciated.
Thanks to all the people posting here.

[Bernard Feltzer]

Sounds like you got a real safe vehicle to drive at 80MPH on the freeway.
Get your power steering pump replaced.

[fallen4shell]

I would say that the noise you are describing along with the high speed vibration and possibly even the pull are all due to a bad wheel bearing assembly. This is very common for these vans. If I were you I would go ahead and replace both of them (when one goes bad the other will usually not be far behind it), but they might be kind of pricey so if you have to just do one I would start with the one on the right side.

Each hub/bearing assembly is actually composed of an inner and outer bearing. Usually it is the outer bearing that goes bad, and if that is the case your problem would be consistent with the Right (passenger) Front wheel bearing. When you are making a curve to the right, the weight of the vehicle shifts to the left, thus removing the load on the right wheel bearing which, in turn, quiets the noise. There is, however, a possiblity that it is actually the INNER bearing/race on the left side....which would also be somewhat relieved of its weight load during a curve to the right. I have been fooled by these things MANY times before....so there really is no sure fire way to diagnose which side it will be. If you jack up the front of the vehicle so that the wheels can spin freely it takes the weight load off of ALL the bearings so unless it is REALLY bad you will not be able to hear anything just by spinning the wheels.

The most accurate way that I have found to determine which side is at fault is to jack up the two front wheels (make sure to put it on stands) and have someone get in the vehicle, put it in gear, and run it up to about 50 or 60 mph while you crawl underneath with an automotive stethescope (pretty inexpensive and commonly found at many parts/tool stores....this tool could help you tremendously with your belt noise as well, btw) and then place the tip of the stethescope on the spindle (careful not to get it caught in the wheel or rotor) of each side and usually you will be able to tell a drastic difference between the good one and the bad one. A few things to note about this procedure, however, are that (1.) it will most likely turn on the ABS light...and I don't know right off the top of my head weather you can turn it back off without a proper scan tool and (2.) both wheels may or may not spin at the same time...if they don't, I would reccommend letting down the side that DID spin after you listen to it with a stethescope, chaulk ALL wheels with 4x4 blocks or equiv., and then have your assistant put it in gear again and get it up to speed BEFORE you crawl back under it...just to make sure it isn't going anywhere. You may have to disable any traction control systems if applicable.

IF you DO happen to replace the wheel bearing and the noise is still there....that means you replaced the wrong one! Take the bearing that you just took out and use it to replace the opposite side. It's not ideal, but it's a whole lot easier than taking the new one back off, putting the old one back on, taking the other side off, and replacing it with the new one you just took back off the other side. See my point?

As far as your belt noise is concerned, use your handy dandy stethescope to try and pinpoint where exactly the clicking noise is coming from. Place it as near as you can get to each pulley without getting it caught up in any moving parts (tip, position the stethescope BEFORE putting the earpeices in...otherwise if you accidentally touch something moving you won't blast your eardrums). Also, look to make sure that the belt is running "true" (in a straight line from pulley to pulley), that it is sufficiently tight, and that it is not frayed or cracked anywhere. The next step is to remove the belt and turn each pulley by hand making sure there is no roughness, noise, or excessive in/out or side to side play. If you don't find ANYTHING wrong with any of the pulleys and the tensioner seems to have adequate spring tension then replace the belt with a new one (probably want to do this anyway) and we'll go from there.

[Mareshalu]

Wow, fallen, thanks much for your advice, I will definitely buy that stethescope and hope I can come close to your diagnostic. I'm not sure if ill be able to do the bearring work since I'm not familiar with cars too much, I would say I'm handy and know a thing or two about cars, but ill give it a try if I find the problems coming from there. I hope ill find some help tutorials on changing them. Know any good sites with tutorials? Or should I just get the repair manual?
Thanks again and Happy Halloween!!!

[fallen4shell]

honestly, the thing that I reccommend if you want to do it yourself is to buy a subscription for your vehicle at www.alldatadiy.com. It's factory repair information will most likely give you the most clear instructions (usually includes some diagrams) that you can rely on. Even if you buy the subscription and look over the job and find out it may be a little more than you want to tackle....the subscription will still be very useful to you I think. It will list for you all the factory service bullitins (TSBs) for your vehicle as well as recalls. It will have accurate wiring diagrams and component locators as well as factory specific repair information and specifications. It also has labor times which will be helpful if you think that a repair shop may be trying to rip you off or something.

I don't know of any sites that give good instructions on how to do the job, but they are probably out there. You might search through a few forums you can find you never know when someone might post a link to some geezer's page who had nothing better to do than document step by step how he replaced the wheel bearing on his van...and take pictures as he went.

As far as job difficulty, I don't think it's a very difficult job, but I worked as an auto mechanic for 5 years so that is in comparison to some of the "hard" jobs that I did have to do. I would say if you are an average Do-It -Yourself-er and can perform such tasks as brake pads, oil changes, and maybe even a valve cover gasket or two then you can probably do this job with the help of some decent information. I do NOT recommend haynes or chilton manuals...about the only thing I have ever found them good for is an occasional quick reference in the specifications section or, if you're lucky, they may have a decent wiring diagram or two (though most say something at the bottom like "dodge caravan 1965-2004: TYPICAL engine wiring" or some crap like that....as if it is all just going to be the same).

Anyway, let me know if you have any other questions about it and I will try to help as much as I can.