I’ve been having recently a humming noise in the backend of my car Pontiac G6 2006, the noise will stay on for a few seconds to a minute than shut off, is this a wheel bearing and is it an emergency repair?
Wheel bearing noises don’t usually come and go. That said, if it is a wheel bearing, it IS an emergency.
A question for you. How many miles on this car? Are the rear tires original to the car? If you don’t know, have you ever rotated the tires? If not, it may be a tire noise created by very old tires. Even IF they still have adequate tread, old tires should be replaced and that may be your noise.
In any event, please have the rear bearings and brakes checked.
Because this noise from the car’s rear tends to come and go, I think there is a good chance that it is coming from the fuel pump. “Humming” isn’t usually how people describe wheel bearing noise, but a fuel pump that is going bad frequently emits a humming or buzzing noise.
In any event, this needs to be evaluated by a competent mechanic a.s.a.p.
3 Likes
195,400 are on the car right now, nope they are not and I have replaced 1 tire here in the last few months, I haven’t rotated the tires since I’ve been driving the vehicle, I just replaced all the brake pads just about a 2 months ago and yup I’m looking into some mechanics
Okay thanks for the advice, it sounds more like it’s coming from the tired because I went under the car and couldn’t hear anything from the gas tank, I am looking into a trustworthy mechanic
Yeah depends on where the noise is coming from but if from the fuel tank, then there may be a problem with the fuel pump developing. I dunno though, my 86 Buick started making a huming noise when it just had 20,000 miles on it, maybe year old. I didn’t like the faint noise but never had any problem with it for the 10 years and 120,000 miles we had it for. So who knows?
This vehicle didn’t come with self-leveling suspension, by any chance, did it?
My Bonneville did. When the shock absorber air pump started cycling longer and the more obvious humming alerted me to the fact that there was a problem. They had always activated upon start-up, but only briefly.
When I crawled underneath to have a peek I saw that the rear shocks had lost fluid through totally weathered/worn air shock “bags” after they were about 11 or 12 years old.
It was a fairly easy and inexpensive maintenance update a couple years ago. If I recall the Monroe shocks were around 50 bucks for the pair and they bolted in without a problem out in my driveway.
I don’t know if any G6 models had self-leveling suspension systems, but I thought I’d throw it out there.
CSA
No it doesn’t. I own a G6. The only thing back there is the tank and the wheel bearings. On my Buicks and Olds with the self-leveling though, the compressor was in the front though. I hope there is not someone or something in the trunk.
In the 120k miles that I owned my POS Volvo 242, I replaced the Bosch electric fuel pump 5 times, IIRC.
When it started humming, that was the death knell that would result in me being stranded within–at most–a few weeks.
Luckily, I did learn from experience, so that stranding only happened twice, and I was able to head-off any stranding for the rest of the time that I owned that POS by learning that the hum in my left-rear wheel well was the Swan Song for the fuel pump.