Driveshaft rumble???

[corkymills]

Hi gang, me again. Just replaced wheel bearings/suspension arm/trackrod ends/brake discs and pads on both sides of fiesta. Now I have a rumbling noise from the driveshaft. I think maybe it was on its way out and with my disturbing it whilst replacing these parts has caused this noise. Just priced them up at £79.99 each so I don't want to get it wrong if its not them. Car has done 53.000 miles...any ideas??

 

[Ron Gamma]

it is difficult to diagnose a worn inner CV joint as the sound can sometimes also be produced by the gearbox main bearings.
check the oil in the gearbox (i think it is seperate on the fiesta) and ideally change it for brand new oil.
if the rumbling is temporarily quietened then its the gb-mains. if it persists then strip and regrease the inner CV joints and see how it goes.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Call me pessimistic and by all means shoot me down but if you replaced all those parts and then immediately got a rumbling noise would it not be logical to suppose it may be a problem with the installation of one or more of those parts? I thought that a reliable way to identify a worn CV joint was to travel slowly in first gear with the steering on full lock and if ones faulty you can here it knocking?

 

[JohnD]

Wheel bearings too tight can cause this. I once made that mistake and had a bearing overheat and break while driving It was an Audi which had tapered roller bearings and you have to be precise. I wasn't

 

[Ron Gamma]

I thought that a reliable way to identify a worn CV joint was to travel slowly in first gear with the steering on full lock and if ones faulty you can here it knocking?

Freddy,
that only tells you if you have a problem with the outboard CV joints. The inboard ones where they connect to the gearbox output shafts barely generally only move up and down with the suspension angle and the distance is minimal. wear is normally only found through checking for radial movement between the joint housing and the driveshaft.
Ron

on reflection what worries me about this job is that the inner bearing ring had to be ground off but there is no mention of the new one being pressed back on so I am concerned that the disk/hub might not be in the correct alignment anyway and could be stressing the new rollers.

 

[Stivino]

Why not nip down to your local scrappy and get a whole strut for a tenner?

That was my reply to your previous post, it might still apply.

 

[corkymills]

Hi again folks, the old bearing ring was removed from both hubs, new bearings were pressed into place circlips attatched. Wheel hub pressed into hub casing. Everything fine so far. New lower suspension arms fitted, hub cases connected to suspension strut and cv joints then lower ball joints and trackrod ends. New brake discs and pads fitted. Road wheels refitted. Testdrive. Slight knocking sound and a grinding noise, the sort of grinding noise you get when something is catching. I have since put the car back on the stands removed the road wheels, supported the lower arms in there normal position and started the engine and put in 1st gear and let the wheels slowly rotate. The noise is coming from the passenger side which is the longer one. There is no noise coming from the new bearings or anywhere on the drivers side. I did note that when I was putting the hub and cv shaft together it did seem as thou the driveshaft may have come out of its housing slightly, but everything went back as normal. Hope this helps

 

[Softus]

CVJs don't generally rumble - they click, or clunk, then later on they grind.

 

[corkymills]

Just tried it again with wheels removed and lower arms supported. In low gear and both hubs turning there is a bit of a rumble/knock. However, if I stop and hold the hub on the side that appears to rumble/knock the noise stops. If I stop and hold the other hub then the noise from the other side gets louder. I have noticed a clonk when taking up drive and there seems to be a bit of an up/down and in/out movement on the shaft..... cheers guys..

 

[Ron Gamma]

hopefully just the inboard CV joint on the noisy side then and not the splines on the output shaft.

 

[corkymills]

Hi all, this is getting silly now I have today replaced the CV joint on the "noisy" side and repacked the other end with grease. Put the wheels back on and guess what? STILL NOISY (sorry for shouting). I cannot see anything I have done to cause this. There was no noise prior to me starting the job. So you would naturaly think its something that I have changed. But appart from having a bit of bother getting a couple of bolts off everything was straight forward.

When I testdrive the car the following applies:-

No noise in reverse. Noise when travelling forward in all gears getting louder the faster you go. No difference when turning/braking or freewheeling. There used to be a clunk when taking up drive but that has gone. Its as if something is rubbing or catching like having no pads left on brake discs (metal on metal) but they are all new.

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp I am going insane!!!!! (sorry again)..

 

[Softus]

It's a mystery to me why you ever thought it was a CV joint.

You replaced some parts (although we don't know why), one of which was a bearing, after which you had a new noise, which sounded like a worn bearing.

So you replaced a CV joint, and the noise is still there.

 

[corkymills]

Hi softus, there was a noticeable clonk when taking up drive, this has now gone because I replaced the CV. I didn`t think the CV joint was the cause of the noise but there was a bit of play in it. originaly the bearing was worn causing the hub to heat up. There was also excesive play in the lower suspension arm bush. I replaced both bearings, arms and trackrods as a matter of coarse. New brake discs because they had worn to less than 10mm.

The car drives superb, except for this noise that was not there before I started the job. I have done everything in accordance with Haynes manual, and everything went back as it should. So what`s causing the noise????

 

[Softus]

I would put money on it being a bearing.

If there are any bearings you haven't changed, then it could be one of those.

Or it could be a fault in one of the bearings that you have changed.

You mentioned a test that you did with both drive wheels off the ground, where you could eliminate the noise by holding one of the road wheels stationary. Is this the status quo?

 

[noseall]

clutch thrust bearing?