"Follow the owners manual" Really?

[Kestas]

I followed the owner's manual once. It said regrease the wheel bearings every 30K. This was front wheel drive, so I took apart the rear hub bearing unit, cleaned and repacked it with new grease. As anyone knows, the seal is destroyed during this task and needs to be replaced.

I went to buy the seals and, much to my surprise, find that these seals aren't sold individually! You have to buy the whole hub unit for $80 each if you want to replace the seals. I went to four places, including the dealer. They even gave me this look like I was stupid, and said "No one regreases their wheel bearings"!!

This resulted in a phone call to the Mercury Service Division to point out their error in the manual and the lack of proper maintenance parts in their dealerships. Though curteous, there was nothing they cared to do about it. No I'm-sorry-we'll-send-you-two-new-bearings, nothing.

 

[SteveSRT8]

I own one car in particular with bizarre factory info in its owners manual.

My car specs a 3000 mile oil change or a 6000 mile one. But if you read the qualifying statements almost no one should do 6k miles.

So during the warranty period it was every 3k miles for me, just in case. I have been in one suit involving warranty work and the owners manual is the ONLY legally accepted source for maintenance recommendation.

This same car also specs M1 0W-40 and 15W-50 as the recommended oils!

 

[Artem]

Originally Posted By: Kestas
I followed the owner's manual once. It said regrease the wheel bearings every 30K. This was front wheel drive, so I took apart the rear hub bearing unit, cleaned and repacked it with new grease. As anyone knows, the seal is destroyed during this task and needs to be replaced.

I went to buy the seals and, much to my surprise, find that these seals aren't sold individually! You have to buy the whole hub unit for $80 each if you want to replace the seals. I went to four places, including the dealer. They even gave me this look like I was stupid, and said "No one regreases their wheel bearings"!!

This resulted in a phone call to the Mercury Service Division to point out their error in the manual and the lack of proper maintenance parts in their dealerships. Though curteous, there was nothing they cared to do about it. No I'm-sorry-we'll-send-you-two-new-bearings, nothing.

Who on earth regreases their wheel bearings? Mine went bad at 180k on my 98 Toyota Camry V6. If Toyota sold the seals i could have saved the bearings from failing on me after 13 years and 180k of service.