Forum Replies Created
-
Replies
-
Just wanted to add 2 more things: there is a pinhole in the front driver side cv boot and it did sling some grease onto the control arm but not that much. I’ve seen this before on other cars and the cv axle was fine.
Also, the sound is like a low pitched growl that starts at about 30mph. I said grinding earlier but that was before I heard it myself.Update: tranny shop looked at the car and said its a wheel bearing. We are surprised, both garages have good mechanics. First diagnosis was transmission bearing-they took it for 2 test drives then used a stethoscope while it was up on a lift-their diagnosis was that it was a tranny bearing. We have decided to keep driving the car and wait for the sound to get worse. We hate to do this but not sure what else to do. We had the car on jackstands, noise is from front and front wheels seem ok, no play and no sound. It had timken hubs put on both fronts about a year ago.
Thanks 13 and Eric. That was a good video. I’ll have to research how to build and use a smoke machine, do you inject smoke into the vacuum lines and look for smoke to exit wherever the leak is? Can the filler tube be tested with the smoke machine? Thanks again for the great info.
Thanks 13 and Eric. This is over my head so my son will take car to a transmission shop for a diagnosis and estimate. I’ll reply here with the info but if its over a grand we will likely trade the car in for something a few years newer. This car has 140k miles on it.
Got back to this yesterday. I torched the rubber bushing til it was totally melted while wrestling with the bolt. This time I got it loose! I then took pliers and ripped the rubber bushing out of the leaf spring. I thought the hard part was over.
I went to put the new shackle on and….it would not fit in the end of the leaf spring. I oiled the new bushing and sleeve, heated the leaf spring end to expand it, banged on the new bushing even turned it down in my little 7×10 lathe a few thousandths-I ended up getting it partially in and used the new bolt with the nut and a washer to press it in since my c clamps would stay on it. Probably took another hour but I did finally get everything on and bolted in! Never so glad to see a job done and over.
Next-my 2005 Cavalier needs passenger side front axle/cv joint. I have time, its only making a little noise. I am taking a break.
Thanks College Man for the help.Thanks College Man. I did heat it up til it was smoking, just like the guy in the video. Difference was I didn’t have any room to swing the hammer since the leaf spring is still in the van . I was hoping to avoid taking the whole thing out but I can see I might have to. Same with drilling holes into the rubber-I’m pretty sure I’d have to remove the leaf spring to have enough clearance to get a drill into it. That means trying to get the front shackle disassembled which might be another nightmare. It will be 2 weeks before I get a chance to try. I’ll post if I give it another shot. Thanks for the help.
That worked for the bottom half-I used a cutting wheel on an angle grinder. But the top half has the bolt and rubber bushing stuck in the end of the leaf spring. If I cut the bolt head off I still will have the bolt shank and the rubber bushing stuck in the end of the leaf spring.
Fopeano-thanks. My daily commute in this Cavalier is 26 miles one way to work. Since there are no other symptoms I realize this may not be a huge problem. I still might do the compression test.
Googled and looked further-people seem to think there is no pcv valve just a tube.
I hope I don’t have worn rings as stated in the comments in the youtube video link
barney can you let me know where I can buy one? I looked on autozone and amazon, they do not have one.
Thanks Blues. I have changed the oil religiously every 5000 miles. It is damp here in NY. Apparently there is no PCV valve on this car-just a hose.
Congrats! I have a Hobart Handler 140 and a small ac stick welder. They are useful right when I least expect it. Plasma or Oxyacetylene torch could be useful for you to take the load off the sawzall. I want OA-plasma is too expensive and only cuts, doesn’t do other stuff that can be done with OA like braze and heat. $300 for a small OA setup.