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Subject:Re: Unidentifiable sound
From:Mike Collum
Date:Sat, 25 Nov 2006 22:27:45 -0500

Have you tried jacking each front corner up so you can check the front
wheels for loosness?

Mike

mordo wrote:
> I've just completed 880 miles on my 90 Carat and almost all was
> well...except.
>
> Yesterday, driving around Corolla, NC the bus was running great and I was
> having a great time. Today, prior to leaving for Baltimore, I checked
> fluids
> and the tensions of the belts, etc. Almost immediately on the road I
> noticed
> an unfamiliar sound and felt its corresponding vibration. My first thought
> was front wheel bearing as i had recently had them repacked by a
> questionable mechanic. At my first stop, I checked the temp of the wheels.
> Nothing abnormal there.
>
> My next thought was tire noise. I thought perhaps treads had become
> distorted from bad alignment or some such. No, they're fine and they aren't
> abnormally warm either. Then my thoughts went to transmission as all other
> systems are operating normally. Coolant temp normal, transmission shifting
> smoothly, etc. So, I don't think its transmission.
>
> As I became more fixated on the noise, it of course seemed to get louder
> and
> the vibration at my feet greater. I'm baffled. The noise is like the sound
> of offroad tires ont he pavement. It begins to be audible at about 25 mph
> and grows louder as speed increases. I still am thinking it might be wheel
> bearings but I figure if they were bad enough to make that kind of noise,
> they'd be smoking hot or comppletely kaput after 350 miles at highway
> speed.
>
> Any thoughts, citizens of the list? There were no unusual events to
> associate the new noise with am I am stumped.
>
> --
> mordo
> 1990 Carat
>