Wheel Bearing Problem.. What does it mean?
 

Hi,
I just got my 1996 SVX , and it only has 30,000 miles in it.
But already, my rear wheel bearings need to be replaced.
What does this mean? The old owner drove this car pretty
hard? Or is it that the SVX just has poor wheel bearing
problems? I thought it was only the 1992 SVX's that had
this problem.

Thanks.

Well My friend, I hate to be the one to tell you this, But, The SVX does have poor wheel bearing problems. I don't know if I'm correct about this, With your car having under 36,000mi. There may be a warranty available to cover this. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Good luck.

Re: Wheel Bearing Problem.. What does it mean?
 

Many SVXs, of all model years, have had chronic wheel bearing problems. One explanation is that replacement wheel bearings come packed in a grease that is not suitable for installation, and techs have overlooked this instead of repacking them. The bearings then fail quickly.

Besides that, my opinion is that SVXs that require repeated wheel bearing replacements are driven too hard. Thrash any car and you can expect more wear on some parts of the car.

Like a broken record, I will repeat this:

My car has never needed its transmission or wheel bearings replaced. I think this is due to the maintenance it has received and the way it has been driven.

Hi gang,

Meny people say they have tranny & wheel brg. problems at low milage. Others are lucky and the problems do no appear for a long time. Besides component under-design, varying driving habits, and poor repair/replacement; I was thinking for other reasons for this inconsistancy and may have found part of the answer. Here goes.

Apart from model years 1992 & 1993, the SVX was virtually a very low volume production car. It even may have been built by hand as the volume decreased. That type of manufacturing leads to a lot of large variations in product quality. We have all heard the story of the "Monday manufactured car" as opposed to the "Wednesday built car". Maybe some of that applies to the SVX, especially as sales dwindled to nothing and the decision was made to discontinue the car.

This seems to be a plausible explanation for some of the variances that we see in the component MTBF (mean time between failure) for this car.


Larry III

Uh...very insightful...especially since we already know that the car was, in fact, built largely by hand. :)

I understand what you mean, though. Morale of the workers affecting the quality of the product. Look at the build quality of Japanese fighter planes near the end of WWII.

Of course, employees have different work ethics in Japan, so maybe a slightly different set of rules apply.

But I would assume that shoddy craftsmanship would show more in things like interior details or fit of body panels - not the failure of a complicated component assembled by machine, like the transmission. No SVX I've ever seen showed symptoms like that.