Taurus drive train issue?

BAd Dad

Club Member
Wife drives a 2000 Taurus. Couple weeks ago she starts complaining about
a "growling" at 21 and 42 mph. I don't hear anything, all fluids look good and
have been regularly maintained, temp is fine, and trans shifts sound normal.
CV boots have no tears and spinning the wheels in the air the bearing are
quiet.

I drive it yesterday and the growl is now noticable to me.
Slight driving straight, louder turning the wheel left , and quieter turning the
wheel right.
This leads me to suspect either the LH shaft or the wheel bearing.
Any one disagree? Any way to pin point one or the other?
If I'm off base please throw some light.
Thanks
Kevin
 
BAd Dad, its a wheel bearing, not a axle shaft.
A word of advise, do not buy a cheep one or one made in china. Purchase only ones made in the USA of japan...or you will be changing it out again soon.
As far as which one is bad...usally running the vehicle in the air, you will be able to tell the difference.
 
Easiest way to pinpoint the bad wheelbearing is to jack the front end up with the trans in neutral, spin one wheel at a time (by hand) while holding onto the spring with the other hand. You will be able to feel the vibration through the spring from the wheelbearing. Obviously the side you feel more vibration through will be your culprit.
 
turn the wheel left and right. Which way does it get louder ? load them at a speed like 40-45 mph on a curvy road if ya can.turn the wheel. pay attention to which direction make it quieter.

If you turn the wheel left and it get quiter its the left hub if you turn it right and it get quiet its the right front.

My suggestion is to replace both hubs. They usually fial one after the other.
 
Finished both off last night very labor intensive IMO.
The wife is happy, happy, happy! Thanks everyone for your help.

Couple points for the next guy
1. 2000 uses a 30 mm shaft nut.
2. You'll need a E8 socket for the ABS sensor.


One question...I now have the ABS light on in the dash.
All I did was remove and re install the sensor?
Any advice?
 
how hard was it to get the sensor out. alot of times they have to be twisted/turned pull and everything else to get them out and some times they get damaged
 
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Likely a damaged sensor, you'll need to remove them both (you did both hubs, right?) and take a look for damage, or you could check the resistance values at the connector. It could also be a defective bearing, you'll need to have it scanned to pinpoint which one is causing the light. I just did a r/f on a Focus 2 weeks ago that had the same noise afterwards, did the r/f again due to a faulty bearing, afterwards it was quiet but the abs/trac was on and it had a code for the same wheel part supplier said "not possible, those bearings never go bad-you installed it wrong". I told him he's a tool and I didn't install it wrong, send me a nother one, installed it and all is well. BTW these were Federal Mogul bearings, not cheapo's.
 
Likely a damaged sensor, you'll need to remove them both (you did both hubs, right?) and take a look for damage, or you could check the resistance values at the connector. It could also be a defective bearing, you'll need to have it scanned to pinpoint which one is causing the light. I just did a r/f on a Focus 2 weeks ago that had the same noise afterwards, did the r/f again due to a faulty bearing, afterwards it was quiet but the abs/trac was on and it had a code for the same wheel part supplier said "not possible, those bearings never go bad-you installed it wrong". I told him he's a tool and I didn't install it wrong, send me a nother one, installed it and all is well. BTW these were Federal Mogul bearings, not cheapo's.

focus abs sensors read off the wheel bearing, they only work 1 way
 
focus abs sensors read off the wheel bearing, they only work 1 way

Lol, thanks, I know that:spank:. Gotta check which side is magnetized, blah, blah, I've done a ton of them, I do appreciate the advice though. Funny thing is, my boss did a bearing on a Focus last year and installed it wrong, then I had to fix it for him, lol, he tossed the paper saying how to install them.:headscrat
 
how much did they run you i have to change the ones on my sable the right side has gone bad.and oh by the way mine is a 2000 model year car as well.
 
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