Mk IV Fiesta loud (maybe transmission) noise while travelling?

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G.T

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Paganisterr
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Hi All

My friend's Mk IV Fiesta has started making a loud noise which vibrates through the car - becomes worse the faster he travels. It never did it at idle when I witnessed it but 2 weeks later he's saying it does it in netural now. I presume it's a transmission problem but I'm not sure? It does sound a little like transmission whine. Does anyone have an idea what it is?

Thanks!
 
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I think that's called the engine ;)

What kind of noise is it, exactly - high pitched, low pitched, what? Does it increase with speed or revs?
 
It just increases with speed - not now fast your revs are - it just starts making the noise in 1st gear and just increases as you go faster and becomes nearly deafeningly loud on the motorway (is louder from the back of the car). It is low pitched from low speeds to higher pitched at higher speeds.
 
G.T
It just increases with speed - not now fast your revs are - it just starts making the noise in 1st gear and just increases as you go faster and becomes nearly deafeningly loud on the motorway (is louder from the back of the car). It is low pitched from low speeds to higher pitched at higher speeds.
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If you've got the end narrowed down, try defining which side it's on. And then replace that wheel bearing.

But before we jump to conclusions, how many miles are on the car? Describe the noise a little better too. For example, worn out wheel bearings usually make an odd groaning/moaning/grinding/frictiony sound that is unmistakably bad, even if you don't know what it is. A good way to tell if it's a wheel bearing and what side it's on is by very gently steering the car back and forth, just enough to shift weight to each side. The extra load on the bad bearing will make it's groaning sound louder. Say, if you curve to the right, thereby shifting weight to the left side, and it gets louder, you can bet that left wheel bearing will be shot. Conversely, when you shift weight the other direction the noise will get quieter.

So go meander about like a drunken fool and if you get pulled over just tell him you're testing for a bad wheel bearing.

In my experience it seems the rear wheel bearings go out on front-wheel drive cars before the front bearings, oddly. They've much smaller and not nearly as strong. I've replaced three on various cars, all rears, and all front-drive cars.
 
If it's not that, It's the diff...and that's pricey.
 
I'll echo what Keef is saying, sounds like a wheel bearing. I had something similar in the Forester last year. The noise came on so gradual it was only when someone who hadn't been in the car for a few months mentioned the noise made me realise it was there :dunce:

I too feared it was a transmission issue, it was a whine that got louder the faster i went, but i had it checked it was just a bearing. So it doesn't necessarily have to be accompanied by a grinding sound.
 
G.T
It never did it at idle when I witnessed it but 2 weeks later he's saying it does it in netural now.
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If it does it in neutral while static, it's not a wheel bearing. If it does it in neutral while moving, along with everything else above, it's a wheel bearing.

Though it does sound like a wheel bearing. We've got a squiffy one on the BMW, but the garage weren't able to identify which. "Come back when it sounds like you're being followed by an aeroplane"... :lol:
 
Tried jacking the wheels off the floor and wobbling them left/right top/bottom and spinning them by hand to feel for play and listen for roughness?
 
If you can get the car on a lift and spin the wheels, you'll be able to detect if it's a bearing or not. It costs a bit more when it occurs on one of the axle-driven wheels.
 
It's very hard to explain the noise but he read this thread and he thinks it might be the wheel bearing thing and will drive the car according to your suggestions later. It has about 70,000 miles on it I think.

He literally has no money to spend for about a month or so - does anyone know if the car will last that long? Like the wheel won't suddenly fall off or something? He barely drives it anyways so I guess it might last.

Thanks for all your help anyways, I'll keep you posted on what happens. :)
 
G.T
It's very hard to explain the noise but he read this thread and he thinks it might be the wheel bearing thing and will drive the car according to your suggestions later. It has about 70,000 miles on it I think.

He literally has no money to spend for about a month or so - does anyone know if the car will last that long? Like the wheel won't suddenly fall off or something? He barely drives it anyways so I guess it might last.

Thanks for all your help anyways, I'll keep you posted on what happens. :)
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A wheel-bearing noise typically starts as a quiet "Brrrrrrrrr", progresses to "Whuuuuuuuu" and becomes both before it fails. Ours is quiet enough that the garage can't tell which one it is. If his sounds like he's being permanently stalked by the Angels from Captain Scarlet, it's time to stop driving it.
 
A bad wheel bearing will last quite a while actually, it's pretty surprising how resilient steel is. Like Famine's mechanic said, it really will sound like you're being followed by an airplane, to the point the droning will be there no matter how loud your stereo is.
 
I probably had mine that way for at least six months :dunce:
 
I was going to say it could be the clutch bearing as they can become really noisy and you might get some vibration if it is heavily worn. He would have noticed the griding feeling on the clutch pedal though.
 
Famine
A wheel-bearing noise typically starts as a quiet "Brrrrrrrrr", progresses to "Whuuuuuuuu" and becomes both before it fails. Ours is quiet enough that the garage can't tell which one it is. If his sounds like he's being permanently stalked by the Angels from Captain Scarlet, it's time to stop driving it.
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Yeah that definitely sounds like it.

The only way I could have described it, which would have been useless to 99% of you, is a couple of the old First busses in my area make the exact same noise - becomes so bloody loud on the motorway I can hear it over the top of my headphones at full volume. :lol: Some of them aren't near as bad.
 
Why are you driving with headphones?
 
I was on about on the bus. ;)
 
I know exactly what you mean about the buses, it makes you feel like your head is going to explode lol.
 
If you wear isolating headphones then you could ignore the sound better. I have a pair of cans that reduces outside noises by 22DB and I can barely hear people with it on.
 
Failing bearings can indeed sound pretty interesting. I had a driveshaft support bearing that went from OK to totalled in half a second (progression? what's that?) but the sound was something to experience. Below 30 km/h it was a slight whirr, at 40 km/h it was like I was driving a tram, at 50 km/h it was like I was driving a bloody loud tram, at 60 km/h it was like I was driving a bloody loud jet powered tram. More than that, I didn't dare to try as I wasn't too comfortable with the thought of the bearing seizing and ripping the driveshaft off at one end, possibly followed by it trying to enter the cabin.
 
I guess I was thinking of the grumble of CV joints. Never had a bearing go bad on me, but those CV joints...all the time.
 
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