I was wondering if I could get some advice. My boyfriend REFUSES to get his car looked at, so I was wondering if I could get a second opinion from any of you out there regarding this problem he’s been having.
He has a used automatic Hyundai Elantra, and every time he starts the car and drives it at low speeds, there’s a low level grinding noise. It’s especially evident when he’s turning corners.
Any ideas what this might be? Is it serious? He drives forty minutes to see me twice a week and I just don’t want his axle to break or something cataclysmic like that when he’s on the highway! I have a feeling he may trust the folks on the car talk discussion board more than my (gentle) nagging. Thanks!
It sounds like a bad wheel bearing. If it’s worse when turning left then it’s the right side bearing and vice-versa.
He should get this checked before he finds himself on the side of the road sometime with a considerably more expensive repair due to ignoring the problem and wondering why he did not listen to you in the first place.
It could be the transmission or a motor mount, bad ball joint or quite a few other problems. Let him refuse to get it looked at if it has over 90,000 miles on it because it might not be worth fixing anyway.