Carrier Bearing/vti Fluid Question

[JBARNES]

I just joined this forum so I may not be in the right area - just let me know.

My question - we have a 2003 saturn vue awd 3.0 (not vti) with 35,000 mi.
We had it in the shop because it was causing severe vibration when turning left or right. Mechanic said they were starting with a transmission flush and then they were going to replace the carrier bearing next. When looking at the bill for the flush it said they filled with VTI fluid. Was that the right stuff to use? The mechanic kept trying to tell us that we had a vti tranny and we told him that the 6 cyl. did not have vti. We did get underneath and double check the carrier bearing - it is shot and there is a lot of play in the axle. Don't know if that will solve the problem or not tho and have no idea what they are going to soak us. Also, when backing up the vehicle we noticed there was some sort of black fluid right under both front wheels, didn't smell like oil but was dark black? Carefully looked everywhere and could no signs of leakage anywhere??? CVC's looked brand new. Any insight would help. Thanks Hope this is a quick and fairly inexpensive fix - only had the vehicle for a year.

[ssicarman]

Welcome to the Board.

Your V-6 transmission does not use VTI fluid. Get the shop to do a couple of complete fluid changes immediatly to try and save your transmission. Your trans should have T-IV fluid in it (or equivilant). Not VTI fluid or Dexron. You may want to condsider finding a new shop as well.

When you say carrier bearing do you mean the steady bearing on the drive shaft to the rear? If so they are a rubber mounted bearing and even when new have a good bit of movement due to the rubber mount. That said the rubber can selperate from the metal cage and cause excessive movement. They can also have bad bearings causing noise at higher speeds. I Don't think that I have ever heard them cause noises when turning only though.
Not normally common in the 2003 there is a chance that the rear diff may be causing a noise if the noise vibratioon you are getting is only when you make hard full turns at low speeds. IE parking lot manuvering.

[JBARNES]

The carrier bearing sits about in the middle of the vehicle's underside where the shafts connect. The rubber boot is completely busted all the way around, and the shaft moves left to right about 2 inches each way. Also, we looked at the paperwork when we first took the vehicle in and the guy scrawled on the order: vti fluid, 2/$10.65 but when we looked on the finalized bill it said item 12378514 - 2@29.42 for $58.84, so we're not sure if he got the right fluid in it after we told him it was not the vti transmission or not???? The guy forgot to order the carrier bearing - ordering it today for $176.00 - labor?? Boy, can't wait until tomorrow to ask about the vti fluid - he's probably going to tell us he didn't put that stuff in - just forgot to change the wording on the bill???? On the bill it says flush using spec. honda approved fluid??? for 59.95 - so we don't know if he just changed it like we asked or flushed it - what is ballpark $ for a flush. Thanks so much for your reply.

[ssicarman]

The carrier bearing sits about in the middle of the vehicle's underside where the shafts connect. The rubber boot is completely busted all the way around, and the shaft moves left to right about 2 inches each way. Also, we looked at the paperwork when we first took the vehicle in and the guy scrawled on the order: vti fluid, 2/$10.65 but when we looked on the finalized bill it said item 12378514 - 2@29.42 for $58.84, so we're not sure if he got the right fluid in it after we told him it was not the vti transmission or not???? The guy forgot to order the carrier bearing - ordering it today for $176.00 - labor?? Boy, can't wait until tomorrow to ask about the vti fluid - he's probably going to tell us he didn't put that stuff in - just forgot to change the wording on the bill???? On the bill it says flush using spec. honda approved fluid??? for 59.95 - so we don't know if he just changed it like we asked or flushed it - what is ballpark $ for a flush. Thanks so much for your reply.


They either changed the PTO (transfer case) fluid or the rear diff fluid based on that part number, 12378514. Logic would say the rear diff not to mention that the PTO takes less than a quart. Labour and refill would depend on their door rate but 60$ would be a decent figure. The GM name for the fluid is Versatrak.

The carrier bearing on the rear drive shaft is also called a steady bearing. From your description it is bad.

From your new better info my statement of finding a new shop is not neccesarily needed at this time.

[JBARNES]

Ok - Just Came Back From The Shop And Asked Them A Few Questions
The Bill States Serviced Transaxle... Installed Vti Fluid...see Saturn Service Bulletin

I Told Him We Didn't Have The Vti Trans. And He Said He Called Saturn And They Told Him What To Use - But I Don't Know If He Told Him It Was A 6 Cyl Or 4?? I'm A Woman So I Don't Understand All The Terms He Used But He Said It Was For The Transaxle - Not The Same As Transmission - Can You Explain? Thanking You Again For Your Assistance - Also, Can We Drive The Vehicle 2-4 Mi To Work With The Bearing In That Condition? OK THEY JUST CALLED BACK (SHOP) SAID THEY WORDED THE PAPERWORK WRONG - SAID THEY SERVICED THE REAR DIFFERENTAL - DID NOTHING TO THE TRANSMISSION??

[MaxSL2]

It is a technically a transaxle but transmission and transaxle are used interchangeably in common terms. The transaxle is a just a transmission combined with a set of differential gears built in to apply power to your front wheels, much like the "rear end" does with rear wheel drive. I think they may have the transaxle and the rear differential module mixed up, which is the "rear end" and also has the clutch that engages the rear wheels to provide AWD.

Anyway you are correct the transaxle/transmission is neither a VTi or would use a Honda spec fluid. The T-IV fluid is actually a Toyota specified fluid as the 5 speed automatic you have comes from Aisin, a Toyota subsidiary. THe saturn part no. for such fluid is 88900925 which is $16/quart or the same thing from Toyota is about $6/quart.

[onesicsaturn]

HI I am obviously a newb, and since I seen this thread pertains to bearrings I have a question I can hopefully sneak in here. I recently purchased an 04 Vue with 50,000 miles on it. It is AWD, with the 2.2L. Now this is not my first Satty, but is my first Vue, and definitely my first vehicle with AWD, so I know nothing about the AWD system. I had the truck for about an hour, and was noticing this strange vibration feeling/noise from the rear under moderate to hard acceleration, especially if I had slowed for a turn, and then got on it. Took it back to the dealer, and they said I had a bad support bearring? They are a GMC/Buick/Pontiac dealer, so they didnt have the part onhand, and neither did any Saturn dealer in a 50 mile radius, so they had the part overnighted from where ever. Got it back late the next day and no more vibration, but now the right front suspension is rattling all over the place. Ended up replacing all the bushings and a sway bar link for that, and now, the otherside of the front is rattling the same way.

I love this truck, the wife loves it more just been a bit of a headache, especially this CVT tranny? That thing is strange! And now we are hearing/feeling that vibration during low speed turning/parking lot manuevers.

Can you guys suggest a small list of things for the dealer to look at/fix on my next visit to the shop next week? Thanks in advance, and sorry for being so long winded.

[JBARNES]

Hopefully someone can help you. I have read horrendous things about the Vue with the CVT - which thankfully we don't have. They did away with it after 2004 from what I understand. Anyway, we did indeed have the vibrations and noise you talk about. Saturn bulletin says first to change the differential fluid and put in Versatrak. Also, we crawled underneath to check what they called the carrier bearing (which some people call the support bearing I think). That indeed was shot. Since they finished the work this past Wednesday - only been 2 days - we have no more noise. Hopefully it's fixed. Saturn told me that even after changing the diff fluid the noise will reappear after awhile and we will probably need the rear clutch drum replaced at a tune of $900!!!! Our vehicle is a 2003 V6 3.5 AWD with only 35,000 mi - what a rip.

[onesicsaturn]

cool thanks for the info, I will tell them to do that when I go tues. yeah that tranny is strange, but the thing runs so good and gets great mileage for an suv that i will just make the dealer keep fixing things until its almost brand new again. BTW is there not a link on the net that you can read about all the service bulletins for a particular vehicle? If so, can someone hook me up? Thanks in advance!

AJ:yes: