whining noise from rear that increases with vehicle speed, not RPM

[willrev]

I am laughing at this
Becasue I had all three! wheel bearing, brake noise and pinion gear!

I had the dealer do the rear wheel bearing that was bad. I just got my new rear rotors, pkng. shoes, pads, caliper rebuild kits this past Friday. Will do both rear brakes this week. I am hoping that will eliminate some of the noise, since left rear caliper is sticking. This needed doing anyway.

But alas, I am afraid the pinion bearing is the problem. At least she handles like a dream with all the new rubber and springs and shocks under the rear end!

[willrev]

Originally Posted by whunter

In the shop on a hoist = 0.5 - 1.5 hour if all fasteners are corroded.

I am amazed that you said 1.5 hours. One mechanic here quoted me nine hours from his service book to swap out the differential. With that kind of labor, I might just schedule an appointment at your shop and drive out from North Carolina to get mine swapped out!

[whunter]

Originally Posted by willrev

I am amazed that you said 1.5 hours. One mechanic here quoted me nine hours from his service book to swap out the differential. With that kind of labor, I might just schedule an appointment at your shop and drive out from North Carolina to get mine swapped out!

Did you get it fixed?
How much time for the job?

[lefttownlance]

Originally Posted by HIDGolf

you guys mean low diff oil? I would think it was wheel bearings.

Get it on a hoist and start it up and put in gear and then start listining. Could be a carior bearing or the ring and pinion. You need to narow it down to where the noise is coming from

[Levi's TD]

Originally Posted by Brian Carlton

The determination of "differential" or "wheel bearing" can be assisted if the following question can be answered:

Does the noise almost go away entirely when the drive shaft is unloaded?

The drive shaft is unloaded when you are cruising along at a steady speed and you lift your right foot ever so slightly so that the vehicle just begins to slow down. If you lift too far, the shaft will load up in the opposite direction and the noise may return.

Please attempt to reduce or eliminate the noise via your right foot, in the manner described, and report back.

When traveling at a steady rate any where from 40-65mph I get a high pitched noise. When I let off the fuel pedal the sound goes away and depress again and it returns. Is this bad wheel bearing? have something to do with drive shaft, differential?? Differential fluid has been changed, rear axles are new, rear brakes are new. This is my first post by the way.

[jacrouch]

heh... as of right now the car in question has been sitting for almost a year now... the water pump and t-stat need to be replaced and i have not had the time/money to do that, and i'm betting the fuel tank has a ton of algae growing it in now as well.

as far as the whine goes... i know it isn't the wheel bearings, and based on the old bimmer i'm driving now that has the exact same whine and has been officially diagnosed by a BMW specialist as a bad differential, i'm pretty sure that's the problem. i'm sick of trying to get rid of that damn whine though... i've done TWO diff swaps on her (they were both used, from silver star recycling), and the whine sounded slightly different with each swap. just my luck to a) buy two german cars with bad differentials (NEVER heard of those going bad unless they were abused by PO) b) buy a used differential that was also bad, and c) send it back, only to be sent another bad unit. gah... seriously.

I doubt you would have 3 bad diffs in a row. My vote is for the carrier (center) bearing and/or u-joint.

[jacrouch]

i would be really surprised if the u-joint were able to produce this noise, but the carrier bearing has been discussed as a possible culprit (my friend referred to it as "the driveshaft bearing"... i'm pretty sure you're talking about the same part). how difficult is it to change that?

[Levi's TD]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian Carlton
The determination of "differential" or "wheel bearing" can be assisted if the following question can be answered:

Does the noise almost go away entirely when the drive shaft is unloaded?

The drive shaft is unloaded when you are cruising along at a steady speed and you lift your right foot ever so slightly so that the vehicle just begins to slow down. If you lift too far, the shaft will load up in the opposite direction and the noise may return.

Please attempt to reduce or eliminate the noise via your right foot, in the manner described, and report back.

When traveling at a steady rate any where from 40-65mph I get a high pitched noise. When I let off the fuel pedal the sound goes away and depress again and it returns. Is this bad wheel bearing? have something to do with drive shaft, differential?? Differential fluid has been changed, rear axles are new, rear brakes are new.

[JimmyL]

A whining noise from the rear of my car is almost always the wife. Sometimes the whining noise seems to come from the other front seat also......

[jwhughes3]

Originally Posted by Levi's TD

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian Carlton
The determination of "differential" or "wheel bearing" can be assisted if the following question can be answered:

Does the noise almost go away entirely when the drive shaft is unloaded?

The drive shaft is unloaded when you are cruising along at a steady speed and you lift your right foot ever so slightly so that the vehicle just begins to slow down. If you lift too far, the shaft will load up in the opposite direction and the noise may return.

Please attempt to reduce or eliminate the noise via your right foot, in the manner described, and report back.

When traveling at a steady rate any where from 40-65mph I get a high pitched noise. When I let off the fuel pedal the sound goes away and depress again and it returns. Is this bad wheel bearing? have something to do with drive shaft, differential?? Differential fluid has been changed, rear axles are new, rear brakes are new.

Levi - letting your foot off to unload the differential and having the noise go away points directly to the differential - wheel bearings would continue regardless of accelleration.

John

[jwhughes3]

Originally Posted by jacrouch

i would be really surprised if the u-joint were able to produce this noise, but the carrier bearing has been discussed as a possible culprit (my friend referred to it as "the driveshaft bearing"... i'm pretty sure you're talking about the same part). how difficult is it to change that?

I did it on the driveway with ramps without any great difficulty. Factory Shop Manual helps.

John

[99E300d]

had the same problem with my car, they way we fiquired out it was bearing me and dealer tech at mb took out on deserted rd at good speed and made sharp left and rifht turns if noise goes away its bearing , if it goes away on sharp left it left side bearing right turn goes away right bearing hope this helps

[mussberger]

Originally Posted by Brian Carlton

The determination of "differential" or "wheel bearing" can be assisted if the following question can be answered:

Does the noise almost go away entirely when the drive shaft is unloaded?

The drive shaft is unloaded when you are cruising along at a steady speed and you lift your right foot ever so slightly so that the vehicle just begins to slow down. If you lift too far, the shaft will load up in the opposite direction and the noise may return.

Please attempt to reduce or eliminate the noise via your right foot, in the manner described, and report back.

I saw this post and I think it might pertain to my car. I have an 1982 380SL
with an honest 52k miles on it. It makes a whirring noise that starts around
60-65 mph a gets a bit louder as the speed increases. If I lift on the gas
pedal the noise will go away until the car slows down and comes back when I
think the drive shaft is getting loaded? I have checked the wheel bearings
and the diff level is correct. Any Ideas?

Thanks Steve Dabney

[Whiskeydan]

I have noticed a high pitched sound like a hair dryer in the trunk in the 85 SD lately. I believe it may be a wheel bearing on the left side, seems louder on the drivers side when I listen with the windows down.

I'm wondering if the bearing noise will go away when I check it unloaded, lifted off the ground???