Chrysler Repair: What To Do?, wheel bearings, chrysler cirrus

Question
Hi Roland,
         I own a 1997 Chrysler Cirrus/6 cylinder..the car was given to me after sitting for over a year and the following problems exist: the rear axle and wheels are loud, I get a check engine light every so often, I have a oil and transmission leak (the oil leak doesn't look like its coming from the pump). I've taken it to various Mechanics and estimates range from mid-really high for various repairs...can you give me some guide-lines and suggestions of steps that maybe I can do or where to go...I'm in Riverside, Ca

Answer
Hi David,
I have to admit some ignorance of the Cirrus line but I am expecting to receive a Chrysler shop manual for the '96 model in a few days which will be of help. For the sake of accuracy should you write back, please try and identify which V-6 you have by displacement number if you know it (or what is the letter in the 8th position of the VIN)?
I don't know what you mean by "rear axle and wheels are loud". Are your referring to noise when the car is moving on a smooth road (such as from wheel bearings) or noise that is caused by the suspension having to move due to a rough road (perhaps due to a weld in the axle assembly flexing)?
On the check engine light, that would suggest that the engine controller has recognized a fault in some aspect of the engine's functioning and therefore it may also have recorded in its memory a fault code that describes what is sees as wrong. You may be able to readout the fault code yourself (usually this is a two or three digit number). Go to:    www.allpar.com/fix/codes.html
for a discussion of getting the codes to readout. It is not totally clear to me if you can readout the codes from the memory yourself using your ignition key or whether you have to have a shop with a code reader due that task, or of course you can buy a code reader for now and future use if you intend to keep the car and work on it yourself. See what you can do with the direction of the allpar site and let me know what you find.
On the oil leak, I don't understand "doesn't look like its coming from the pump" because the pump is internal to the engine, usually in the oil pan so it isn't a source of a leak per se. Did you mean some other part of the engine is not the source of the leak? How big a leak is it (how many miles before you have to add a quart)? Similarly with the transmission (how many miles before you have to add say 1/2 quart of transmission fluid)?
What specific repairs did the various mechanics propose to do and at what cost?
Do you have any tools and interest in doing repairs yourself?
Sorry to ask you more questions than you asked me, but maybe I can give you some advice with answers to these.
Also, how many miles are on the engine and how many owners has it had? Does it seem to have been treated with care or allowed to decay or been mis-repaired heretofor?
Roland