2004 Toyota Corolla S Manual Trans - Tires Seizing

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Xeralt

New Member
#1
#1
About a year ago I started to get a noise in my car. I had just replaced the engine and the clutch. We were in the middle of a trip from Utah to California. The noise was a grinding sound. When We got to California I took it to a dealer, Longo Toyota, told them about the noise and they said it was the trans-axle. We replaced both sides of the trans-axle, but to no avail. The noise was still there.

I had some older tires so I replaced the tires and the shocks had been altered by the previous owner so we put some stock height shocks on it. The noise remained.

There has been speculation from about 3 different mechanics that it is the wheel bearing but all the tests show that they are not faulty. I took one last trip in it before the wheels seized after the grinding noise basically make a loud pop. Now the wheels are not completely seized because you can actually with enough gas drive out of it.

Today we removed the brakes on each of the front wheels since the tires were still seizing when we moved them off the ground. After removing the brake calipers the rotors would move freely. After replacing the brakes and calipers we drove it about 30 yards and it started to seize again. I couldn't get the car to shift out of first gear so I had to power through it to get it to move. When it lets go it made a squeaking noise prior to actually releasing. After that I put it back in the driveway.

so to date we've:
replaced the engine
replaced the clutch
replaced the axle (both sides)
replaced the tires
replaced the shocks
tested the wheel bearings
checked the brakes to see if the calipers were malfunctioning

and the tires still seize. Any ideas or thoughts?
 
Last edited:
Savoir-Faire

Savoir-Faire

New Member
#2
#2
Me? With everything put back together I would wait till they (I'm assuming it's Both front wheels that seize) seize again, lift the front, open the caliper bleeder valves and see if you could get the wheels to turn by grabbing on to them and try and forcing them to turn. See if the wheel gets easier to turn as brake fluid comes out.
Also how were the wheel bearings "tested"? I can't see both sides going out at the same time but anything's possible. With all the work you've had done I would hope the bearings would have been tested while visually Looking at them.
But anyway from your explanation I'd check the brakes next as I stated above.

Safety First and Good Luck!
 
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Xeralt

New Member
#5
#5
Updates! Yes, my apologies on the delay. I first wanted to check the wheel bearings - so I got the hubs off and both needed to be replaced. We did that. The behavior of the problem has changed now. The wheels no longer lock like they were. But something is still wrong. When you put the car in gear there is a squealing noise and hesitation that can create a locked up feeling. In second gear it's much more pronounced squealing and less hesitation. At one point while in first gear the car did stop and I went to pull it out of gear and it would not come out until I drove forward out of whatever was binding it. It lets go with a squeal, so I'm thinking it's a bearing of some kind.

Donabed Kopoian, I am going to bleed the brakes. We did check the calipers and it did look like they were sticking at first, so we removed the calipers to inspect them and them tried to re-install them to make sure they were functioning. I didn't see any grease on the float pins that I recall, but I will check them again.
 
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