2006 Pacifica Loud Growling Rear Wheels
 

Hello,

New to the forums. My Sig Other arrived in Montana this summer with her 06 Pacifica AWD. The car has 200K miles on it, and it drives very nicely and has lots of power. The car does, however, have a roaring noise that's tied to rear wheel speed. If I didnt know otherwise, I'd assume it was a wheel bearing, except when Ive had them go in the past, they clunked and growled, and I could feel it through the floorboads. This noise sounds more mechanical.

Here's a vid on youtube of the noise:
Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

Sean
Great Falls, MT

200k? could be anything from rear wheel bearings to differential wear. And will wager the diff. oil has never been changed.

BUMP??? any action to report?? Feedback is ALWAYS welcome.

Check the emergency brake show asm. on the rear wheels.

I’m looking into the same noise and problem. Ours is at about 120K and I have serviced the PTU and rear carrier fluids at 30K intervals. I’ll be under it today with it on a lift and with a driver inside and my stethoscope on. I’m looking at the rear carrier, bearings and drive shaft bearings as most obvious possibilities. I did notice recently that even though I can hear the sound at “parking lot” speed, if I turn tight circles, again at parking lot speed, the sound is largely gone.

Well whadayaknow? As wbread99 said, I too have had wheel bearings be far more straight forward to diagnose. But my Pacifica had no more noise when loading up either side, no matter the speed. I could not localize the sound. But once on the lift it was an easy diagnosis. I can’t believe how bad this bearing was, I’ve hardly seen worse. And I’m surprised it didn’t make more noise and/or fall apart completely. Not easy to swap out, even on a lift and with air tools. I wouldn’t want to do it on the ground. I had to go at it with a good air chisel to loosen it up - but that is pretty standard. So, don’t rule out that wheel bearing!