Bearing Noise? 96 Grand Caravan

I have a 96 Gr Caravan with 97K miles. For a couple of months I have been hearing a very high pitched metalic-sounding squeek from the front end. It is mostly heard when putting light pressure on the steering wheel to the right, or when a going straight and hitting a minor road dip.

The brake pads are in good condition. But I have not inspected the condition of the guide pins.

This leads me to think it is a wheel bearing but I was always under the impression that a bearing made more of a growl noise and was often accompanied with vibrations. I notice no vibrations at all.

Do these bearings ever fail with this type of noise?

Thanks

Reply to
R Foos
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I'd describe the sound a failing bearing makes as a harmonic that correlates with your speed and increases as you turn into the failing bearing. With time it gets worse. As the bearing gets looser you can feel it when you left the van up and jiggle the wheel. Grabbing it from top and bottom, jiggle back and forth and if there's any play the bearing is surely bad. In the beginning there may not be any or much play, but there will be eventually.

I felt no vibrations in my case, though I'm sure it happens as it will as it gets worse over time.

Broken or missing caliper pins can cause wheel noise like this. If the threads get stripped, which happens often enough if the caliper pins are overtightened, they will fall out and the caliper will be loose. However, the '96 should have 2 caliper pins per caliper and one tight one should prevent the caliper from moving out of place.

Reply to
David J. Allen

My 96 GV is doing something similar to this also. It is a rymthic squeak that varies with road speed and doesn't seem to very with position of the steering wheel. I had the dealer check it out and they said it was the brakes. Well, they replaced the pads and turned the rotors and .... it made exactly no difference. I suspect the wheel bearing, but don't know for sure. Guess I'll just let it get back enough so they can REALLY figure out what it was.

Matt

Reply to
Matthew S. Whiting

Reply to
Tom Postma

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