Car question

[Ralph Wiggum]

My girlfriend has a '99 Olds Cutlass with a 3100 V-6 that's been making a strange noise as of late. It's a kind of whirring noise (almost sounds like tire noise, but that's not it--and it's louder). It gets higher pitched and louder the faster you drive. It doesn't change pitch at all when the transmission shifts gears. Any ideas?

[ChuckN]

Dan, these are relatively new tires and there are no issues at all there.

ST, I assumed the same and after inspecting all that and there is no indication of a problem. The mystery will continue until the sounds return, if it returns.

Thanks for your input.

[Jeremy airjer W]

I think Surface nailed it! I've seen the paint come off the drums in long strips and make some funky noises also. Pull off the drums and check the groove that the lip of the backing plate fits into. If there is a lot off rust clean it out. I'll bet that is the deal.

I can't believe I didn't think of that!

[Surface Tension]

Ya it can be a nuisance when it happens. First time it happened to me(30 years ago) I bought new shoes only to find out they were fine. Since then its happened at least a dozen times and as recently as a week ago.

If you pull the drum off don't forget to back off the adjuster or you'll have a heck of a time getting it over the ridge.

[BIG DS]

On the torque thing, make sure the technician actually torques the nut with a torque wrench and not a air impact wrench as the rollers in the bearing will be impacted into the races and you will have the noise all over again.

As for the Toyota, the bearings in the rear should be the taper-roller bearings (packable). If the grease looks more like wax than grease, they will need to be serviced and more than likely replaced. The noise could be caused by the struts or the upper strut mounts in the rear. There are also a couple of rubber bushings on the rear suspension that make some noise. Hard to tell with out being able to drive the car and get it to reproduce the noise.The rust lip on the inside of the drum as ST mentioned is a common problem, especially if the drums are the ones that the car came with. The cast from overseas that the vehicle comes with is a really poor grade of cast and rusts fast and tends to come off in good sized chunks. The North American castings are a lot higher quality and more resistant to rust and rust pitting.

[Ralph Wiggum]

We're taking the Cutlass in tomorrow. I'll be on vacation for a week, but I'll report the results back when I return.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Okay, it was both front wheel bearing on the Cutlass. Good diagnosis to all those out there that helped!