i have a dale jr. edition monte carlo and my fiance thinks the wheels bearings are going bad. it sounds like an airplane goin overhead when your under load but not at idle. and also if i take off one of the dog bones to do the front valve cover gasket will the other one hold it and be fine. i need some input on this asap

 

Is it like a groaning sound? Does it get worse if you slightly turn the wheel one way or the other? Does it do it in neutral while the car is moving? If you answered yes to any of these I would say its a wheel bearing. Probably just one side tho. And I think you should be able to remove one dog bone without the motor moving. You may want to support it with a jack just in case tho.

 

yes it does sound like a groaning noise and i would do that anyway i was just wanting to make sure that if i took the one off by the coil pack that it would be held up fine. the oil leak problem just started tonight when i started the car. it has been sitting at my mom and dads house because of the groaning noise i didnt want to make it worse

 

In my experience, others may differ, I would replace both wheel bearings at once for peace of mind.

 

When you say load, do you mean when the car is in motion or when in gear stationary? If it doesn't make noise when stationary but does when in motion I'd say wheel bearings or brakes.

As for the mount question, I wouldn't do it. I've broken several mounts that way. It's no fun either they're like $75+ from the dealer. The reason it does this is without equalizing the torque on the mounts the engine will twist under load and with the mount brackets being cast aluminum it doesn't take much to snap them like twigs. Of course this is dependent on your mod/hp/torque level.

 

As far as the dog bones, are you talking about removing both of them in order to do the valve cover gasket, or are you talking about leaving one off after the job is done?

If you're talking about removing both just in order to get the valve covers off, then by all means do it. As long as you're not driving, they are fine both being off at the same time. I can't honestly imagine leaving one on to do the rear valve cover, as it makes it really easy to get behind the engine if you take both dogbones off and rock the engine forward.

If you're talking about leaving one off after the job is done, then why? They take all of a minute to install. You'd be fine with only one holding on as long as you're not punching the gas at all, but you still risk breaking one as pacer mentioned.

-Riggs.

 

well i only need one to get to the front valve cover gasket. im not gonna leave it off im not stupid im plan to upgrade those dog bones. i always replace both sides because i dont know what the other side is and i dont want it to break and then got to do it all over again so just do it all at once. the question was can i take one of them off to do the valve cover and then put it back on would it hold the weight of the motor fine with no load or nothing just changing the valve cover gasket

 

Yes, you can take both off to change the valve covers. The dog bones aren't holding the motor up, it's still supported by the engine cradle and is bolted in to that. Basically they just keep the engine from rocking forwards and backwards when you're driving. When you're not driving they're not much more than decorations.

If you're doing the rear valve cover, you can hook a ratchet strap up between something on top of the engine and the radiator support and use it to lean the engine forward (after you've removed both dogbones). This gives you a ton of room to get in behind the engine to work.

 

ok kewl thankz yea this leak just started last nite when we started the car up after sitting all week. its leakin under the valve cover onto the exhaust manifold but i dont know why there is oil underneath the supercharger i mean i just changed the oil but i didnt think i spilled any old oil

 

Are you sure it's oil? Soak some up with a paper towel and see for sure. It's probably coolant- sounds like your lower intake manifold is going. They're bound to fail eventually on every L67 and usually leave dirty coolant puddles under the blower.