How long can I drive with a bad wheel bearing?
From my experience until it seizes…and it will.I noticed the first issue while driving on a highway at about 140kph on a wet road. The car felt twitchy from time to time…just snatching a little to one side every now and again. Eventually there was a ping that sounded like I had thrown a rock under the wheel well.After I got home, it was about a 150km journey, I checked the rear wheel and saw that the bearing cap had gone and grease had spilled out of the bearing. So that was the ping I heard while driving the previous day.Next morning I tried to drive it to the dealer, but could only make it about 2km to the nearest Canadian Tire outlet. The scream from the bearing was intense and the wheel was dragging.The rollers in the bearing had lost all their case hardening and were wearing down in diameter. Eventually they started to catch under the bearing cage. At this point the bearing is not far from seizing all together, and soon after I might have been overtaken by a wayward wheel. A three wheeled car, even those that are intended to be that way, doesn’t handle well.Don’t do it. Get the bearing replaced today but don’t take it to Canadian Tire who gave me the car back without it’s bearing cap because it didn’t come in with one…doh!PS. a failing bearing can allow the wheel to cant/camber pushing the brake pads off the disk (they normally float just off the disks). The pedal will go to the floor until you pump it up…something you may not even think to do in the panic.
Is it dangerous to drive with a bad wheel bearing?
A wheel bearing goes through several stages as it fails. First, you may hear a clicking while making turns. After that you may hear and feel a pulsing in the car, or a clicking while driving at low speeds. At this point, you MUST replace the bearing. It is extremely dangerous and you are putting your life at risk.A wheel bearing failure at high speed is one of the most fatal ways for a car to fail, so do not drive at high speeds until you can get the bearing repaired. On most cars, it will require a press or other specialty tools, so I would suggest taking your vehicle to a shop so that it is installed correctly. If you are familiar with the construction, function, and assembly of the bearing and axle it can be done at home.
How far can I drive with a bad wheel bearing?
Main thing is - get it fixed PDQ (pretty darn quick). Driving with a bad wheel bearing can cause the axle/hub/spindle to weld itself from friction and heat causing the wheel to lock up and spin you out. More likely, the metal will wear away from the friction and the wheel/hub will become loose. If the affected wheel has a disc brake, the brake caliper and rotor might hold the wheel onto the axle for a while, but will eventually fail too.I drove a car I had just bought in a different state about 2,000 miles (3,200 Km) to get back home. The front wheel bearings were whining the whole time, but the wheels were still fairly tight (negligible play). One of the first things I ordered upon arriving home was a new set of wheel bearings.If you jack up the vehicle and there is any play (i.e.: slackness or wiggle) in the affected wheel(s), don't drive the vehicle because you might just get overtaken by your own wheel (no longer attached to & supporting the vehicle) while driving down the road. Any play in the wheel could also be caused by worn suspension and/or steering components which should also be replaced PDQ (and a wheel alignment done post repair). Again, this could cause a wheel to come out from under the vehicle and/or point in a different direction and cause you to have a wreck.Get it fixed posthaste.<><
What are the symptoms of a bad transmission speed sensor?
On some vehicles, there are sensors that function specifically for certain parts of the vehicle. Sometimes a bad speed sensor will mess up the function of the ABS brakes (causing them to overreact or not kick in at all, which usually creates a light on the dash), other times it can cause erratic speedometer readings and/or (for auto transmissions) cause inconsistent shifts and it shifting completely out of gear into neutral at random. Some vehicles it will do all of these things at once, but you should get a CEL (check engine light) or ABS light to show up on the dash if one of these things are becoming problematic enough to cause issues.
What are some of the things that can happen if I keep driving my car with a broken tie rod?
Tie rods have an adjustment that keeps your tires in alignment. They also provide the link between your steering wheel and the front tires. You turn the wheel, the tire rod pushes the tires left and right.Worn tie rods can cause shaky front wheels, misaligned front tires, imprecise steering, excessively worn tires. A broken tie rod would allow one tire to flop to the side causing instant loss of steering and a crash if you are going fast enough.A least, you will be wearing out your tires much faster than you should. You will be replacing those tires sooner than later.At most, a worn tie rod could cause an accident because your steering isn’t accurate.If you are still driving your car, you don’t have a broken tie rod. You may have severely worn tie rods if your front tires are wearing unevenly (can be caused by a poor alignment as well), aligning the front end doesn’t fix your tire wear problem, or your steering wheel wobbles while you drive.They aren’t that expensive to replace and much less expensive than adding a new set of tires to that cost or an accident.
What are the symptoms of a bad inner tie rod?
Symptoms of tie rod failure can include clunking or clicking when turning the wheel or while traveling over a bumpy surface, noticeable steering slack (moving the steering wheel left to right when the wheels are straght), vibrations when driving, reduced turning radius either left or right and a simple way of checking for wear is to turn the wheels to the left of checking the left wheel and to grab the tie rod with both hands and to move it about. If it moves freely then it needs replacing, if not fixed soon complete tie rod failure would release either wheel from any steering input leaving you stranded and in a dangerous situation if it fails at higher speeds.
How do you tow a car without damaging it? What precautions need to be made for 2 or 4 wheel drive vehicles with their parking brakes on to be able to tow it without causing damage?
Front-wheel drive vehicles can be towed quite simply by suspending the front wheels- either on a wheeled tow dolly or on the towing arm of the recovery truck. The parking brake (which acts on the rear wheels) must be released as the rear wheels must be free to roll. Automatic transmissions can be left in park in this case as the drive wheels are not rotating during the tow.Rear-wheel drive vehicles can be towed using this method as well, but the rear wheels must be suspended. The car is therefore towed backwards with the front wheels on the ground. The steering lock must be engaged with the front wheels pointing straight.Part-time 4x4 vehicles can also be towed by the above methods. The transfer case must be shifted to 2wd mode, and the driven axle lifted. Full-time 4x4 vehicles can't be towed with this method.With a manual transmission, flat towing with a tow rope or pole is possible. A second driver is needed to steer the towed vehicle, and the gear lever is simply left in neutral. This isn't possible to do for any distance with an automatic, as without the engine running many automatic transmissions can be damaged by towing.The most common way to tow a car without damage is to load it onto a flatbed tow truck. If the parking brake is applied and/or automatic transmission is in park, wheel skates can be used to allow the vehicle to be winched onto the back of the truck.