On the '89 Formula I am thinking about buying (I have it for a few days), I noticed the centers of the front wheels have grease on them, while the back wheels are clean. I assume I am leaking bearing grease? Is this a sign of something serious? I'm going to jack the car up tomorrow, roll the wheels to make sure they roll fine, then take the wheels off and have a look.

My friend told me all that it is is the cap that goes over the bearing. He said you just push it in, and its probably loose on both sides, allowing grease to come out. The grease is not fresh at all...it looks rather old.

Anything to worry about??

 

since you've just gotten this car, I'd check for excess play and then inspect and re-pack the wheel bearings.
If the bearings are OK, buy a new wheel seal ('cause you need to pull it to get the rear bearings out) and repack them. You shouldn't have grease coming out.

 

Some grease will ooze out, but not much; it shouldn't be dripping! Spray the center down with some brake cleaner (or maybe even wheel cleaner!), that should wash the grease away.

 

Tom,

Nice to have you solving my problems again LOL I looked at them this morning, and on the front wheels its OLD grease...very old. It isn't dripping by any stretch. I looked through the work orders again, and I saw when they did the front brakes at 75k, they replaced the wheel seals as well...or whatever "seal asm" for $10.95 in parts was I don't have it in front of me, but I know it said something about there being a seal of some nature...is it the same thing you guys are referring to?

I think the grease is actually residue from 2 years ago when they did all this! She never washed the car, and I'm sure she didn't take the time to clean the wheels down...for crying out loud, the poor car when I got it was down 2.5 quarts of oil, had 11 PSI in the RR tire, and had gone 9,000 miles on the oil change. ARGH

I'm guessing this is old grease...I'm gonna jack it up tonight and check for play...

 

From what you've said this car is looking pretty neglected. I cant tell if youve bought it yet or not, but If you havent you should run a compression check on the engine, make sure you dont feel excessive blow-by (hot air blowing out of the oil fill cap when the engine is running), check out the condition of the tranny fluid (should be cherry red and not smell burnt), and just look at whatever else you can think of that would have been a normal maintainence item that was probably not done (like greasing the front steering parts). Im not saying you shouldnt get the car, just be more careful checking it out.

 

I run my car without center caps (I like the look, I've painted all the hubs black), and whenever I repack the wheel bearings, I get some grease ooze for a few days afterwards. Definately check for endplay. I moved to Valvoline's synthetic grease for the bearings a few years ago, noticed no ill effects, so I'm still using it.

 

Well, I jacked it up last night, and other than what appears to be a small intake leak and a minor power steering hose leak, the car is VERY clean underneath. I pulled the front wheels, and the hubs are perfectly clean...clearly it was old grease. The wheels do move right and left a bit...looks like I have some play in the tie rods.

The tranny fluid is fine even though it is like 50k miles old...still nice and maroon, doesn't smell. I will change it ASAP. The car was dealer serviced, but they obviously did not clean the grease fittings before shooting more grease into them...and the ball joints look bone dry So much for dealer service.

The only thing she really neglected were oil changes. She did them ever 3-4,500 when it was new, but by 80k or so clearly she didn't care...she did them at 79k, 87k, 94k, and never again...car has 103k on it now!! It was down 2.5 quarts of oil when I picked it up. Assuming she never added anything to it, to go through only 2.5 quarts in 9k miles when it leaks a little is awesome!! No knocks either...

But it does tick me off she didn't do the damn oil more....oh well, I bought it 4 hours ago

 

Congrats on the purchase. Good luck with the car.