Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Confirming wheelbearing problem

My 96 Contour makes some groaning noise when the steering wheel is turned to the right, corner or curve. Going straight and left is mostly quiet...

Searching from posts it seems wheelbearing might be to blamed. But...

I can't tell WHERE the groaning is from the left or right, nor front/back. So which bearing to replace???

I took it to a shop and the mach told me:

1) The bearings on my car are sealed units. So you can "check" to see if it's indeed shot before replacing it.

2) He didn't hear any noise at all! And whatever he heard he doesn't think is the kind with wheel bearing. Nor can he detect significant play in the wheels.

Basically, he doesn't hear what I heard. He doesn't think there's much problem with it...

I'm back to square one. What do I do now?

BTW, the car's got 80k, most of it on crappy city roads, and the rest on curvy mountain passes...

I've had tires make noises like bad drive train components. One set of D60 Dunlops made a ton of noise even after rotating them a number of times. Finally rolled them on off and added some SP5000s.

Welcome to CEG!

Searching usually finds more opinions than you can stand.

The front bearings are subject to high lateral loads when turning, they are prone to going out. Rear bearings going out are a fluke.

Typically, if the grinding happens when you steer right, the left bearing is the culprit. That's if it is a bearing. If the noise disappears when riding the brakes around a corner, a wheel bearing or loose brake hardware is likely.

Make sure the P/S fluid level is a little over the mark. Low fluid is usually associated with 'groaning' noises.

Does the sound change pitch with road speed?

Does the sound change pitch with engine speed?

Does the sound change pitch with engine speed?

Not really.

Does the sound change pitch with road speed?

Yes, but not consistantly one way or the other. It's usually loudest at around 34-45 mph on smooth road. At higher speed, it seems to be less loud. I'm not sure if it's the present or lack of road noise that makes it louder or quieter...

Riding the brake has little effect.

Oh yes, the "groaning and moaning" noise is usually accompanied by mild vibration of steering wheel and gas peddle, of similar frequency.

Put the front end of the thing on jack stands, put it in neutral and reach in and grab a hold of the strut tower and spin the wheel. If it's a bad bearing you can usually feel it through the strut tower and you'll know which side it's on.

i had some mysterious noises quite the same as this one on two other cars (not contours) and they both happened to be faulty motor mounts. if the rubber part breaks it may cause the motor to sag and make a strange noise. you can eventually identify it by parking on a steep hill with either the right side up and down. if it´s gone in one position and apparent in the other position (with the car not moving and the motor at idle) you might have found the problem.

From you mileage and noise it does sound like a left wheel bearing, but these sounds are really tough to isolate. My symptoms were opposite of yours so I replaced the right bearing. (No fixy ) So I went to replace the left and found the inner CV joint was extra sloppy. I replaced the axle and wheel bearing and it's been amazingly quiet ever since. The wheel bearings are sealed, which makes them more difficult to replace, but usually a noisy bearing will have some extra play or slop that you can feel. If the Mach. thought the bearings were OK, it could be a CV joint getting noisey. It'll last a long time just being noisy, so you can keep driving it until it gets noisy enough that you can tell better where the noise is coming from.

Sure "sounds" like a front wheel bearing to me. Just had both done on my car within 3k of each other. The longer you leave it the worse it'll get. Oh, don't go back to that mechanic who told you it wasn't a wheel bearing, try someone else.

Scott

>you can keep driving it until it gets noisy enough that you can tell better where the noise is coming from. <

Actually, it's been "noisy enough" at this point! It's getting me worried.

I started to notice the noise (rather faint then) maybe last year. Since then, Tires has been changed, alignment has been done. The noise persist. Starting this year, the noise got worse. Much worse, in a short time.

I've taken it to two shops but both times they keep telling me they heard nothing!!!

Yeah, a years a long time.... I would agree with Pigeon and try another mechanic. See if you can take them for a ride and demo the noise and the turning symptoms. A different perspective may be able to isolate this problem better.