Front Differential Buick Rainier/ Oldsmobile Bravada
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True Car Nut
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From: western,ny state
pretty sure they were talking about your truck they mentioned rainier by name. said there is only the 2wd 4wd function in the tcase and when it slipped it sent power to the front.
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Joined: Apr 2009
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From: Williamsport, PA
Here is a alternate course of action.
Update the transfer case fluid. GM made a huge update to this fluid for its AWD vehicles, you can only get this fluid at the dealer. You have to change it twice, after the first change, drive 50 miles and change it again. It involves no filters, fairly simple, remove a nut on the bottom, replace the nut, remove the nut on the top, fill with new blue fluid until it overflows, put top nut back in.
You will also want to change the front differential fluid, use GM or the best gear oil you can find. And you will also want to make sure your auto trans is running DEC VI.
The above fluids are what prevent the Rainer and Bravada AWDs from having major premature failures. Those that have done the fluid conversion have years of trouble free AWD operations. Those that don't get 3-5k invoices from repair shops.
With that said, the hubs are a high failure item, and CV axles also fail. The hubs are easy to replace, the CV axles are tougher to do.
Consider changing the fluids, check for problems and go from there. Changing the hubs is never a bad thing on your vehicle, I use Timken and they have worked great.
Update the transfer case fluid. GM made a huge update to this fluid for its AWD vehicles, you can only get this fluid at the dealer. You have to change it twice, after the first change, drive 50 miles and change it again. It involves no filters, fairly simple, remove a nut on the bottom, replace the nut, remove the nut on the top, fill with new blue fluid until it overflows, put top nut back in.
You will also want to change the front differential fluid, use GM or the best gear oil you can find. And you will also want to make sure your auto trans is running DEC VI.
The above fluids are what prevent the Rainer and Bravada AWDs from having major premature failures. Those that have done the fluid conversion have years of trouble free AWD operations. Those that don't get 3-5k invoices from repair shops.
With that said, the hubs are a high failure item, and CV axles also fail. The hubs are easy to replace, the CV axles are tougher to do.
Consider changing the fluids, check for problems and go from there. Changing the hubs is never a bad thing on your vehicle, I use Timken and they have worked great.
Thread Starter
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Joined: Oct 2012
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Here is a alternate course of action.
Update the transfer case fluid. GM made a huge update to this fluid for its AWD vehicles, you can only get this fluid at the dealer. You have to change it twice, after the first change, drive 50 miles and change it again. It involves no filters, fairly simple, remove a nut on the bottom, replace the nut, remove the nut on the top, fill with new blue fluid until it overflows, put top nut back in.
You will also want to change the front differential fluid, use GM or the best gear oil you can find. And you will also want to make sure your auto trans is running DEC VI.
The above fluids are what prevent the Rainer and Bravada AWDs from having major premature failures. Those that have done the fluid conversion have years of trouble free AWD operations. Those that don't get 3-5k invoices from repair shops.
With that said, the hubs are a high failure item, and CV axles also fail. The hubs are easy to replace, the CV axles are tougher to do.
Consider changing the fluids, check for problems and go from there. Changing the hubs is never a bad thing on your vehicle, I use Timken and they have worked great.
Update the transfer case fluid. GM made a huge update to this fluid for its AWD vehicles, you can only get this fluid at the dealer. You have to change it twice, after the first change, drive 50 miles and change it again. It involves no filters, fairly simple, remove a nut on the bottom, replace the nut, remove the nut on the top, fill with new blue fluid until it overflows, put top nut back in.
You will also want to change the front differential fluid, use GM or the best gear oil you can find. And you will also want to make sure your auto trans is running DEC VI.
The above fluids are what prevent the Rainer and Bravada AWDs from having major premature failures. Those that have done the fluid conversion have years of trouble free AWD operations. Those that don't get 3-5k invoices from repair shops.
With that said, the hubs are a high failure item, and CV axles also fail. The hubs are easy to replace, the CV axles are tougher to do.
Consider changing the fluids, check for problems and go from there. Changing the hubs is never a bad thing on your vehicle, I use Timken and they have worked great.
Thread Starter
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Nope, pulled CV axle out, noise goes away, stick new CV axle in just into the diff, not the hub, noise came back. so I'm the most latter 5%
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True Car Nut
Joined: Apr 2009
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From: Williamsport, PA
Thread has been moved to the SUV section and Olds Bravada added into title to attract more attention (The Olds Bravada has essentially the save drive-train as the Rainer).
Thread Starter
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Cool, thanks, I tried to post in a couple other places, can't rememember where now, but I didn't see the "new thread" button, so I figured being a new member I wasn't yet priveledged enough to post in those areas so I tried it here.
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From: western,ny state
Front Differential Failure - Chevy TrailBlazer, TrailBlazer SS and GMC Envoy Forum
seems pretty involved have to pull half the acc. and jack up the engine. what a crap design.
seems pretty involved have to pull half the acc. and jack up the engine. what a crap design.