1997 Chevy S10 leaking grease

just got this truck and everything was fine, until i took it out on the highway. there is purple grease spattered around the hubcap. didn’t do this during the test drive. it’s the driver’s side front wheel, and i’m looking for ideas. it’s pouring rain and i don’t have a garage, so little inspection has been done so far. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. thanks!

Remove the hub cap and see if the dust cap for the rotor is missing. In other words, if you can see the spindle nut and the cotter pin the dust cap is missing.

Tester

i checked, and it is intact. i made a few calls and the general consensus is that the previous owner packed too much grease into the wheel barrings, and it’s working it’s way out (or it’s a tear in the CV boot, but i think not). i feel i must add that when i discovered this, i paid certain attention to handling, cornering, and basically any sounds that may be out of the ordinary (i.e. clicking, grinding, etc.)…i heard none. i am still open to other suggestions, but as it stands for now…too much grease. thanks!

-nate-

This problem is not at all that uncommon (at least for GM. I have put new dust caps on cars and cleaned things up. The only reason I say a new cap worked was that the people never came back. You do want to make sure nothing is causing the wheel bearing grease to get hot and that the grease is of good quality. I say a bearing pack with new grease from a sealed container and add a new cap for a final touch. When I said “make sure something was not causing excess heat” I was thinking of a dragging brake or someone riding the brake.

thanks, i’ll look into it. probably not a bad idea to change the old out for some new. looks like i’ll be doing a bit of that…thanks again.