Front ?bearing? grind RESOLVED

[Elli]

I've got a 92 GS I just bought. The engine eats a little oil (.1 quarts a week), the tranny sings in 4th, it needs shocks... but it hugs the ground and stops on a dime. I've been hearing some of what I thought was loud road noise before I took a 70 mile trip. As soon as I got off the highway the road noise was actually what I had guessed was hub grind from the right side (right of the driver's seat). So after juggling parts then discovering and replacing the seized rear caliper I replaced the rear right hub. But... same exact noise during the test drive. I propped up the front end and put it in 2nd. I'm hearing the grind noise... but not immediately from the wheel well. I'm under the assumption this car has an intermediate bearing and that's my next stop but I had to go to work and couldn't investiage further. Has anyone had this issue before? It's a pretty profound grind at this point, almost rotational like "rrrrRRRrrrrrrRRRRrrrrrr"... but it doesn't sap any power or affect driveability (yet). Also, any suggestions on where to look would be appreciated and acted upon.

Guys, thank you for any help you can offer. I'm putting a ZE in it and if I can't go 40 then I certainly can't go 100

[mx3_ryder]

I had an issue before where the intermidate shaft bearing shield was rubbing on the bearing producing a grinding scrapping noise that was consistant with engine speed. The intermidate shaft is located behind the engine running from tranny to passenger side cv shaft. Could jack the front of the car up and have someone inside run through the gears while you locate the noise.

[Elli]

I will try that as soon as I get home.

[kulluminati777]

im going through the SAME issue now. If it is the bearings lift up the car grab the wheel at the 12 o clock and 6 and rock it back and forth...hard. It should not move if it has play thats your wheel bearings.

[crazycanadian]

Wheel bearings dont have to be loose to make noise . Wheel bearings get louder as you turn left or right. Transmisson bearings get louder depending on what gear you are in or on and off the gas. Intermediate shaft bearing is a constant noise that gets louder with road speed. Be carefull though. If your tires have anu cupping they can be noisy and sound like an intermediate shaft. Intermediate shafts are also normally pretty noisy if you are just spinning the wheels off the ground and listening to it with a stethoscope

[Elli]

This is helpful ^
It doesn't seem to matter what gear I'm in or even if my clutch is engaged, if I'm on the gas, etc. The sole factor seems to be my speed of travel (or the speed of the wheel when it's off the ground).
I can barely hear it in first, but when I let the wheels spin in second it becomes very apparent.

We're getting 2" of rain between this morning and tomorrow so I'm sitting here waiting for the rain to die down enough for me to slide up under the front end. Seeing as to how it's also 44 out. My northern neighbors are probably like, "what's his problem?"

[Elli]

If it is my int. shaft bearing... is there a store that sells them? or the int. shaft assembly?

EDIT:
Upon crawling under it and letting 2nd gear run the wheels... It doesn't sound like it's coming from the int. shaft bearing. It sounds like it's coming from the wheel bearing itself.

[kulluminati777]

did you shake the wheel back and forth at the 12 and 6 like i already said

[Elli]

I will this evening.

[Sleeper6]

did you shake the wheel back and forth at the 12 and 6 like i already said

1 & 7 might be better, 12 & 6 is more likely to be play in the ball joints

[Elli]

Heeeeeere we go...

So I bought my front end bearing and right before I put it in... on a whim, I check my mtx fluid level. I pulled off the drain plug and there was actually VACUUM as I unscrewed it. Totally dry. There isn't a drip of fluid in my parking spots, and the car isn't in the least bit sluggish. The car has the original clay on both the fill and the drain plug from the guy I bought it from, so nobody's been messing with it. I'm so confused.

Anyway, back to solutions:
I filled the tranny w/ the 2.9 quarts it specified at Adv Auto Parts. The noise is, for the most part, unchanged. It sounds like it's coming from the front right of the car, but the tranny is almost directly in front of me when I'm driving. So my question is... if I ran the tranny dry for 100 miles, should filling it make the grinding noise quiet down?

I parked it in the driveway and am waiting until morning to check for leaks.

Are the front bearings pressed in? Or can I do them myself?

EDIT: The wheel did not have any play 12 to 6.

[kulluminati777]

the bearings are pressed in. If you live in a area where the roads are salted i would suggest saving time and money and getting new hubs from an escort or another mx3 at the scrap yard. 40 bucks total. As apposed to a new bearing for 40 and paying someone to press the old ones out and in which would be around 40....

I washed mine religiously but when i redid my bearings they were rusted so bad they fused to the hub messing up the press.

I didnt tell the guy pressing my hubs that the car was bought in new jersey went across the salty humid atlantic a few times and spent 10 years in europe whoops lol

He was pretty mad .

and that is crazy about your tranny fluid. Maybe it only leaked from the pan on the side when you were moving. Or there is a tranny vampire out sucking up peoples fluid

hhhmmm no play?

im just sure its the bearing because I had the same "rrrrRRRrrrrrrRRRRrrrrrr" on the passenger side and on the drivers was a crackle crunch rrrRRRrrrrRRRRrrrr

The

Wheel bearings dont have to be loose to make noise . Wheel bearings get louder as you turn left or right. Transmisson bearings get louder depending on what gear you are in or on and off the gas. Intermediate shaft bearing is a constant noise that gets louder with road speed. Be carefull though. If your tires have anu cupping they can be noisy and sound like an intermediate shaft. Intermediate shafts are also normally pretty noisy if you are just spinning the wheels off the ground and listening to it with a stethoscope

true they dont have t+o be loose but that is a symptom for sure. The noise im sure he has is the bearing failing as mine did. mine stayed loud while i was going straight. When i took a sharp off ramp transferring the weight of the vehicle a tad the noise got quieter.

[crazycanadian]

Wheel bearings dont have to be loose to make noise . Wheel bearings get louder as you turn left or right. Transmisson bearings get louder depending on what gear you are in or on and off the gas. Intermediate shaft bearing is a constant noise that gets louder with road speed. Be carefull though. If your tires have anu cupping they can be noisy and sound like an intermediate shaft. Intermediate shafts are also normally pretty noisy if you are just spinning the wheels off the ground and listening to it with a stethoscope

true they dont have t+o be loose but that is a symptom for sure. The noise im sure he has is the bearing failing as mine did. mine stayed loud while i was going straight. When i took a sharp off ramp transferring the weight of the vehicle a tad the noise got quieter.

No its not a symptom for a noisy bearing.. I have seen many wheel bearings loose but not noisy... On our cars design though a loose bearing still should be replaced...

Just like I mentioend and like in yours, changing the load on the wheel by turning a corner changed the noise... Thats the main thing you have to watch for when diagnosing a wheel bearing noise...


As for the OP.. Your transmissions is toast, 100 miles with no oil is a very bad sign.. Once the damage is done its very unlikely adding oil would make the noise go away...

[Elli]

It does, in fact, change noise levels when I turn left or right... but I know that there's only one driving wheel... so I didn't know if that made an impact.

Someone on probetalk suggested I drain the tranny fluid into a clean catch pan and check for shavings. I might do that tomorrow.



EDIT:
If it helps anyone decipher the issue. The noise only comes on around 30 mph then gets progressively louder as speed increases... but I can run thru first gear as high as I want and the sound doesn't increase in volume.

[kulluminati777]

I had the same. The sound would only come on at 40mph for me. BUT i had waited so long to fix it that somehow both went bad and the other bearings was a constant grind crunch type noise. Now im smooth sailing though. I hope your tranny is not bad as well