My 2000 Buick Century has a bearing growl in synch with the wheel rpm’s. I have uploaded an audio file of this, might anyone be able to identify it’s most likely cause? The growl is more distinct as I slowed down driving at the end of this videoclip.■■■ forbid it to be a worn transmission output bearing! I am hoping a wheel bearing or the plastic speed sensor inside the wheel hub…I have done these jobs before and can handle it. A tranny bearing is out of my league…
Check for a worn wheel bearing by jacking up the vehicle until the tire is off the ground, grab the tire at the 12:00 o clock and the 6:00 o clock positions, and see if the tire wiggles Or, slowly rotate the tire while touching the strut spring. A rough bearing will sometimes transfer the sound into the strut spring.
Tester
Thanks for your reply, Tester. I did jack up all 4 tires, wiggle each tire, no looseness. I rotated each wheel slowly, no roughness. But I will now grip the strut springs when rotating and feel for roughness. Last resort will be looking inside each wheel hub, beginning with front right, then left.
@gudenteit I’ve mentioned this several times before
It’s also been mentioned on the Cartalk radio show
I’ve used this and it’s pointed me in the right direction
I would have said wheel bearing in header. Not car bearing. I was thinking rod bearing. Or pulley bearing.
My last car was a 1999 Monte Carlo, basically the same car as yours. In the 18 years I drove it I replaced both of my front wheel bearings. Never touched my rears. 224,000 when I sold it.
If it is a bad wheel/hub bearing, then you should get three different noise levels while driving, one while going straight, one while veering left (like in a curve) and one while veering right (like in a curve)…
Typically if the noise gets louder while veering (slightly) right, then your loading the left bearing and it (left bearing) needs to be replaced…
If it makes more noise while veering left (again slightly/like in a curve) then you are loading the right bearing and it (right bearing) needs to be replaced…
So a left front bearing gets louder veering right when bad and vise a versa…
It is a 2 row bearing and can make noise without being loose (typical inner row), or it can be loose without making noise (typical outer row), it is when it is loose and making noise that it is about to fall off…
Can you tell if the noise is coming from the front or the rear???
Davesmopar, it seems to come from the front..No difference in sound going straight, left or right. This is why I fear a trabsmission output bearing
Not the transmission output shaft bearing as the 4T65E uses bushings for all the shafts (IIRC)… I’ll have to think about it possibly being in the transmission area, maybe in the differential area, and/or planetary assembly…
Probably the best advise is what db4690 already mentioned, using Chassis Ear, either buying or finding a shop with some in order to better pin point the noise…
I replaced a unitized wheel bearing 4-5 yrs ago and turns out bearing was fine. I kept old bearing. Got a similar car this summer with a real bad wheel bearing. So I dug out old bearing and put it on and viola, quiet now.
I presume you replace the bearing 4-5 years ago because of a rotational noise . . .
Was the noise, in fact, caused by tires?
That is a pretty common scenario