My Sweetheart's 02 Neon (2 litre 4cyl) w 100K miles makes a growling noise that is vehicle speed modulated, sounds as if it comes from front of car. The noise varies not only in frequency but in intensity or loudness with speed: It's louder at 25, 35, near deafening at 55 mph, not so loud at 60 mph. The noise sounds more growly than wheel bearing failures I've heard before. At low speeds the noise is somewhat like a flat tire.

The tires all look good, no scalloping or uneven wear. Both front wheel bearings were replaced at 60K miles. Both torque struts and psgr side engine mount were recently replaced, no difference in noise.

CV joint boots are all intact.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance, Slim.

 

wheel bearing brotha!

 

I agree. Still sounds like a wheel bearing!

 

Thanks guys. Wheel bearing failures must be pretty frequent in Neons of this vintage.

I suspected either WB or 1/2 shaft (CV joint). It seems very early for another WB failure, after the first replacement.

I suppose inspection is the best way to nail it down: Feel for any looseness, roughness, or resistance to rotatation, in the wheel, or hub. I'm thinking of getting a mechanic stethoscope, jacking it up, listening to one side, then another.

Thanks again.

 

have you tried pitching the car left to right while driving? im guessing you are smart enough to visualy check your brakes for wear down to grinding into the rotor?

 

She did try some turns in park lot, it didn't seem to make any difference. Good point to check the brake material, though it doesn't sound like a brake issue. Fact is it doesn't make a lot of sense, so it is good not to rule anything out.

What kind of mileage have other owners had with wheel bearing failures?

Thanks.

 

It's not a common failure unlike other things, so it's not too well documented to be between X and Y miles.

 

whos to say the replacements that were done 60k ago were good of good quality?

and 60k is quite a bit of miles.

 

Quite right. I suppose there are good bearings and not so good bearings out there.

Over the weekend I put the car on stands and listened to both bearings w a stethoscope. Driver side noise is near imperceptible, psgr side was loud, sounded very like the growling noise, so it's almost certainly the bearing, I don't think a halfshaft failure would sound like growling.

I have the bearing splitter and tool MB-990799 on the way, I think I can use a socket for pressing operations, I have a set of 3/4" drive tractor sockets.

 

PS Speaking of bearing quality, Rock Auto lists NATIONAL Part # 510058; also SKF Part # FW115, both in the $30 price range. Advance lists the same NATIONAL part number for over twice the price.

Shouldn't either of these be OEM quality? I'm tempted to get the least expensive.