turtle54

Hello everyone, i have a 03 es300 with 157000 on it. I have a bad wheel bearing and I'm not sure which one it is. My mechanic thinks he knows after he test drove it. He says its the right front, but how can he know for sure? I guess the fronts are cheaper to replace than the back ones. How does one take the guess work out of this and make sure you are replacing the right one? How much will this cost me? Its not a dealership. He also said that my tranny is slipping real bad. He actually specializes in transmissions, and said that it would be less expensive to fix it now then to wait until it completely goes. Does anyone know about how much the tranny work would cost me? Thanks, any help would be great.

kailuaguy

Wanna diagnose your bearings? Kinda dangerous but do-able. Jack up the right front and set on a stand. Place wheel chocks in front of rear wheels. Set parking brake. Foot on brake pedal. Start car. Place in drive. Very slowly release brake pedal. Exit vehicle and walk around the rear to get to the right front. Listen for the bearing noise. If it sounds like the noise you complained about, you found the winner. Walk around the back of the car to enter car. Slowly press on the brake pedal. Place in park and turn engine off.

The tranny prob? At least $1k.

speedkar9

He's a "specialist" in transmissions. He's trying to sell you a transmission job you probably don't need.

To you, does the transmission feel like its slipping? Does the engine rev up and the car not move much? Is the transmission fluid smell burnt?

Dangerous yes, here's a video from EricTheCarGuy to visualize the bearing diagnostics:

jenga

Not sure if this translates to a front wheel drive car but I had my front wheel bearing start to go on my old trailblazer 4x4 (has front cv joints like our cars).

At a certain speed, you may hear a whining high pitch sound that changes slightly in tone with speed. My SUV had it starting at about 20 mph.

To find out which one, get up to speed where you hear the whining sound turn the steering wheel slightly, veering to the left and right, this loads one side more than the other side when changing directions.

The wheel bearing that is bad is always on the same side that you turn when the noise diappears. The reason for this is that when you turn you unload the wheel and the weight is lifted on the bearing.