After a few miles in my 1998-Daewoo Lanos (30,000 miles) a noise starts, getting louder and louder, seemingly coming from my o/s front wheel. It is very loud at 30/40 mph (enough to hear it with tape recorder playing loud music) but the faster I go the less noise it makes.
It's as if someone was shaking a giant baby rattle somewhere near the front wheel/under the bonnet. I thought it might be the gearbox but I'd say it's more likely to be one of the wheel bearings although I've never experienced either problem before with other cars. It had been intermittent in the last few weeks but is now permanent after 10 minutes.
If it is the wheel bearings, it is preferable to change both sets at the same time ? (o/s and n/s wheels). Is this noise consistent with the one of worn out wheel bearings ? Is it urgent and what sort of bill should I expect ?
Thanks for your help, Catalyst
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from the noise you described it could be the "audible" front brake pad wear sensor causing it,what it is is basically a metal strip that make contact with the brake discs once the pads have worn down to a certain minimum thickness thus causing a high pitched noise (this only applies if your brake pads are equipped with this type of wear sensor,not the electrical contact type)
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In my limited experience a worn wheel bearing begins to be heard at about 30mph as a gentle rumble - if it's a front wheel it will be louder when cornering with that wheel on the outside. You may be able to confirm by jacking the wheel and spinning it by hand when the rumble should be faintly audible.
No it isn't urgent - it will just get gradually louder, through a groan to a screech. And if it is a bearing it's unlikely you'll need to change any others at 30K.
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Could it be a constant velocity joint? If it is louder and makes a pronounced knocking sound especially when on full lock then that would suggest it is. As previously suggested a wheel bearing is more a rumble and can be affected by moving the wheel slghtly to the left or right to alter the loading. If a CV joint then it needs doing reasonably promptly as they can be prone to sudden failure. I am speaking from experience with respect to an old Fiat my wife had for a while.
Good luck, MGs
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Thanks all for your help. Today I drove 35 miles and the noise did not reappear, so it really is an intermittent fault. My original thought (bearings problems) was because I thought that bearings, at the earlier stages, can be intermittent, i.e even when worn out either they work fine and go round at the same speed as the wheel or get stuck and make an awful noise.
HJ seems to think it is something to do with the driveshafts (something wound around the driveshaft slapping away at the components). Any thought on the matter ? Am I right in my theory with the bearings ?
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I've had 'things' (grit? small gravel?) stuck somewhere in the disc-brake mechanism, or at the bottom of the Macpherson spring, which caused strange noises for a while.
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Yeah, could be possible. Again today I drove 40 miles without any problems. But how does a worn out bearing work ?
As I assumed, does it sometimes get stuck with the wheel and makes a hell of a noise and then get 'de-stuck' and function O.K for a while ? Or does it permanently rumble when worn out ?
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Wheel bearing`s will carry on whining if there was a problem there.from what you said tis more likely to be something caught in the disc.
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Would sthg caught in disc be intermittently so noisy ?
I can't quite picture why it would make a rumbling/rattling sort of noise, it'd be more of a hissing/screeching noise, no ?
Thanks
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Hi there, no your problem is not wheel bearings, they are either OK or not OK, - they don't cause intermittent problems, also, they whine/rumble rather than rattle. Sounds like disc/pads/foreign body type of thing. Only way is to take the wheel off and have a look.
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Thanks to all, but I'd like to have opinions on why the noise is much louder at 30/40 mph than 60, and why it is so intermittent (basically one day on, one day off) ? And las but not least, what is a CV joint ?
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what is a CV joint ?
Constant Velocity joint. A universal joint that connects the gearbox to the wheels by means of a driveshaft and allows the wheels to be turned in all manner of directions.
images.google.co.uk/images?q=CV+joint&ie=UTF-8&oe=...n
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Is it still occuring
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Yes it is still occuring and it baffles me. It comes on after 10/12 miles, sometimes 18 miles but it always coming on and the noise is much more pronounced at 30/40 mph than at 60.
There's also now a kind of creaking noise from time to time
with it. You're right does not sound like a wheel bearing problem, can't really ask the garage to look at it now as
I need the car everyday. What sort of noise does a worn out CV joint make and what happens when it suddenly fails ?
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A failing CV joint normally knocks or bangs - it certainly isn\'t a rattle.
The CV joint is at a point on the drive shaft. If you can imagine the drive shaft is solid and goes straight from the side of the gearbox to the wheel. This enables it to drive the wheel.
However, if you think about the movement you will realise that not only does the suspension allow the wheel to go up and down, the steering will cause it to turn - either of these two will alter the angle of the wheel to the gearbox. If the shaft truly was a solid bar, that would not be possible.
The CV joint allows the shaft to bend in many directions whilst still maintaining drive.
If the CV joint fails, it can seize. If it does seize, then that would be effectively causing a solid rod between the gearbox and the wheel. Certainly limiting or preventing suspension or steering movement unless something breaks - and its what breaks that can cause the issue.
All in all, if it seizes its not good. However, even though you should have it checked, it doesn\'t sound like your problem - aside from anything else, even though the loudness of the noise of a failing cv joint is subject to road speed, steering angle, driving surface and weight distribution, it does not otherwise come and go.
Your problem sounds like a foreign object issue, or perhaps a loose object.
Personally, work or not, anything going wrong around there would worry me as being potentially expensive and perhaps dangerous. I\'d get it checked out pdq.
Even a KwikFit will be able to stick it up on a ramp and have a look - its sounds like it\'ll be pretty obvious to spot.
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Gearbox/diff ?
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Thanks, I'm getting it checked on thursday, will let you know, thanks again for advice
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This might be a stupid suggestion, but I'll risk it in case it hasn't occured to you and it prevents an accident. If you have wheel trims on steel wheels, one of the nuts securing the wheel could have worked loose and be rattling around inside the space between the wheel & the trim. It could become lodged (explaining the temporary cessation of the problem) and then a bump in the road could dislodge it again.
If you have alloys, I guess this is pretty unlikely as the piece of trim that covers the nuts is probably too small to allow a loose nut to rattle around.
andymc
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Good point Andy! Well worth checking.
I'd personally favour the audible brake lining wear sensor myself - these can often be intermittant in sounding.
Let us know how you get on.
--
groups.msn.com/honestjohn - Pictures say a thousand words.....
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Well, I was totally stunned with the garage's findings but they seem to be right as there hasn't been any funny noise since they checked it yesterday. After doing a full VCR (everything OK) they realised through driving the car that the noise came from inside the dashboard and was caused by something flapping loudly against some metallic casing, possibly ashtray casing or sthg similar. The creaking was due to too much movement from the console when driving. They padded the whole thing, charged me £50 (cheap considering the time they spent over it) and all seems fine now. I still can't believe it, it was so loud at times. Anyhow thanks for your help
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