Moaning and groaning ???

J

Johnnysrx

Registered
Hi,
I bought some Falken tires about 5000 miles ago and now I have a some sounds and vibrations that I notice now that I didn't before. I can hear the sounds pretty good at about 25-30 mph and when going 70 it is a real bad sound. Do you think it is the tires or could I have a bad wheel bearing. The car has 166,000 miles. The vibration doesn't shake the car but it is more like a humming vibration and I can feel it in the gas pedal and in the steering wheel. What do you guys think. Thanks
 
Usually when a wheel bearing goes bad, you can hear it more while going around a corner.

One way to check the tire is to jack it up and spin it. Watch it while it's spinning and it should look smooth and even. If it looks good, try getting it balanced again.
 
However, I recently had a hub bearing go out on my 97, and there was no question about what it was. Longer I drove the louder it got. Wasnt too long before the noise itself told me which side it was on etc.
 
One way to test the wheel bearings is to drive up to the speed that the moise is most prominent and slightly swerve the car side top side transrering the weight onto the bad bearing and causing the noise to get much louder. You have to be careful because tires can simulate a bad bearing very easily and one way to rule out a bad tire is to rotate front to back. Tires usually keep making noise down to almost a stop, while bearings start/stop at 15mph and up/down.
 
Okay guys, I took it in to have the tires looked at, and they told me that my tires are fine, but I could use lower control arms new tie rods and they would repack the bearings for a cool $750 bucks. So I told them that I could live with the noise. So what do you guys think could that stuff be causing the noise im hearing?
 
Lol, you can't "re-pack" the bearings. They are complete hub assemblies that have to be unbolted and new ones installed.

Like I said above, take your car and slalom it down the road, see if the noise gets louder on one side of the car.
 
Are you 100% sure you can feel it in the steering wheel? It almost sounds to me like your drive shaft is giving you some vibrations, you're pretty much at the mileage that it would need to be "rebuilt".

The only other suggestion I have would be to have the front tires rotated to the back to rule out any vibrations being caused by the tires.

If the HUMMING gets worse at higher speeds, but the vibration in the steering wheel stays the same, you have two separate problems. Front tires are out of balance, and your drive shaft has a bad u-joint or the inner rubber is deteriorating.
 
I can feel the vibration more in the gas pedal then I do in the wheel. Its not like the wheel shimmy or shakes but more of a humming. When I fixed the trany leak (dip stick o-ring)we did notice some trany fluid in the area where the drive shaft goes into the transmission, not a lot of fluid though. Could that be the problem? If so that looks like a serious repair.
 
Humming is the key sign that its a drive shaft vibration. A leaking tail shaft seal isn't much of a tell tail sign that its vibrating, but it would be a perfect time to replace that seal when you have the shaft out.

Here is my write up on a D/S swap....its not that hard.
http://mark8.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=15292

If you're interested, I have a spare D/S that I can get rebuilt for you and ship it out.....
 
If you replace your drive shaft, make sure it is from a '93. They were one piece shafts. All others are shaft-a-shaft or two piece. These vibrate or go elipical.
 
budpytko said:
These vibrate or go elipical.
Click to expand...

A driveshaft is supposed to go "eliptical". They always spin in an oval motion, but just VERY slightly. And not all two piece shafts will vibrate.....

At 166k miles, he could just have a bad u-joint. Balancing, straightening and installing new joints on a two piece will be just as sufficient as a one piece on a stock mark.

I feel like everyone always just condemns the shafts because they are the two piece design, when in reality, they could just have a stiff u-joint. I'd like people to atleast go with the cheapest solution vs. hunting down a one piece, than paying to have new joints put in and still have it vibrate. Know what I mean?

I did this swap on Bobs car, a two piece for a balanced two piece....vibration gone.
 
Hey J, I will talk to a friend to see if he would be able to help me with the drive shaft swap. After reading the nice write up it looks like its somthing we could do. Is there a way to test to see if forsure that it is the drive shaft? I was thinking something like jacking up the back end and put it into gear and listen for the problem. What do you think? One more question, If I wasn't able to do the swap myself how much would it cost for a shop to do it. Thanks for all your help, you are very helpful, and this site is the best!
 
No problem Johnny!

Honestly, the swap isn't hard at all with some basic tools. You can jack the back of the car up and place it on jack stands to run it in gear and see if you can hear anything. My only concern with this is that you may have to run it up to 40-50mph to hear the noise, so don't get too close to that shaft because it'll be spinning SUPER fast. With no "load" on the drive train(wheels are not on the ground) the noise should be more present at slower speeds.

If you have a shop do it, they will probably charge 4hrs labor or less. If you brought it into our shop, we'd charge 2 hours because I know I can do it in less. If they want more than 3 hours for the swap, I'd shop around. When I swapped Max's drive shaft, it took maybe 30 minutes because I didn't have to completely drop the tank like in my write-up.
 
Hey J, I might have a friend who would be able to help me with the D/S swap. How much for you to ship out the drive shaft that you have? My zip is 53132. Thanks
 
Check your PMs........

It shouldn't cost more than $150 to your door for a rebuilt shaft, shipping, and the $10 I'm charging for the shaft. :D
 
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