I had to run to Myrtle Beach today. It's about a 2 hour trip and a fairly common occurrence. I was headed back to town this afternoon when I hear a odd noise making a turn. My initial thought was I ran over something. About 10 miles later I started thinking the rear end was making a little more noise than normal. It's got 310000 miles on it, so some noise is normal. By the time I got back to town, it was noticeably louder. I climbed under it when I got back to the shop, and the passenger side tire is covered with gear lube. 
Just what I needed this week. 
That sucks! I was hoping for an inner wheel-well issue. Sorry for your luck man.
I'm guessing the outer bearing puked and took out the seal. That means it'll probably need an axle too. With that mileage it's due for a rebuild with all new bearings, seals and seal repair kits. If I'm lucky it won't need a gear set. Naturally I don't have time to do it, so it will be going to the shop in the morning. There goes a chunk of change. The last one I had done was $1000.
It just gets better and better.
Climbed in the spare van this morning after taking mine to the shop.
Turn the key, it made about 1/4 turn and stopped rather abruptly. 
Sounded hydro-locked. Pulled the rear drivers side plug and coolant runs out. Pulled the next one, more coolant.
Great, just great.
Man, you have my kinda luck. Wanna buy an old Benz with 290K on it MMMMmmmmuuuuuhahahahahahahahah!!!!!!
It can ALWAYS be worse... Like totaled from a crash. At least it is all fixable.
Apparently The Force is not with you this week. You'll have better luck next week I'll sure...
if not for bad luck.. you would have none at all. At least if this happened at the challenge, you would be in the running for a spectacular failure
Just got a call from the repair shop. They had quoted $525 to fix the rear end, which I thought was pretty reasonable since they were having to replace an axle as well as the rear brakes. While trying to put it back together they ran into a problem. The new axle won't go in. They are now thinking the housing might be bent or warped. I was waiting for the third shoe to drop. Wonderful.
And since someone is going to ask, no I haven't been jumping it.
I'm thinking I better stay out of my shop for a few days. I'd probably burn it down at the rate I'm going.
Days like this I wish I hadn't stopped drinking.
Holy cow, you probably need a vacation after all of this but I'd be terrified to suggest you get on a plane. Just reading this thread is making me nervous.
There goes the third shoe...
The wife called today. The first words out of her mouth were "How much do you love me?" That's the most terrifying phrase she can say.
Her car made a crunch sound and pegged the temp gauge. The only reason she looked at the dash was because of the sound. I'm guessing the temperature was pegged for a while.
Me: Did you check the coolant? Her: Yes, it's empty.
Me: How about the oil. Her: Yes, there's none on the stick.
Me: When is the last time you checked it? Her: A couple of weeks, I think.
Me: When's the last time you had it serviced. Her: I don't know, a while back. A quick look at the sticker shows 9000 miles.
I'm starting to think she wants it to die.
It was 1.5 gallons low on coolant and 2.5 quarts low on oil. Amazingly enough, I topped off the oil and the coolant and it started right up and she drove it home. The engine isn't making any more noise than it was the last time I drove it, though the water pump isn't sounding too good. It's sitting in front of the shop now. I guess I know what I'm doing this weekend.
She usually does an outstanding job of keeping up with it and I don't, so I guess I can't complain. Maybe it's time to start car hunting. At 220K+ miles, it's starting to get long in the tooth.
220k+ miles, needed 1.5 gal of coolant and 2.5 qt of oil, and it seems not to hold a grudge. Is this one of those impossible-to-kill Cavaliers, or what? Inquiring minds want to know. Oh, and BTW, congratulations on having finally had the Third Thing go wrong. You may now resume your normal life!
In reply to Stealthtercel:
Nope, it's an impossible to kill Chevy Venture with the 3400. I just got done giving it the once over. Other than an air filter that looks like it's been in there since we've owned it, it seems to have survived the crisis. It is surging at idle though. I checked for vacuum leaks, even as far as turning the water hose on it, with no luck. I need to track down my code reader and see what it says. Probably a sensor out of range or dead.
