Any takers? Ben?
[quote=“Mr He”]I have a problem with my old car too. I have this sound from one wheel, a “low donk” when the wheel makes one turn. It has had it since I bought it 40000 kilometers ago, and it hasn’t gotten worse. I think it might be a worn ball-bearing. The dong-dong-dong sound is only mildly annoying and I can live with it, but if it will endanger the health of the car, I will have to get it fixed. I can’t hear it at high speeds, and it can drive long distances without anything heating up in a bad way in the suspension/around the wheels.
It’s not in the transmission, as the sound does not dissappear, when I press down the clutch.
Any takers?[/quote]
Hmmmm, this one is a bit more tough without having actually heard the “donk” myself. 
If it sounds like it’s coming from the wheel area, it could be the wheel bearings, the brakes, the wheels/tires, or even something as simple as the wheel rubbing some piece of the body. How old is the car? If it’s an older car, you may want to check the CV boots, and see that they aren’t punctured or torn. But, if the sound isn’t getting worse, then I doubt that it’s the problem, although it’s never a bad thing to check them.
Can you get the car jacked up, and turn the wheel with your hand until the sound comes out?
Dear Ben, it’s a very old car, a 1970’s Nissan build here in 1990. It might just be something rubbing against the wheel. The sound is low and has remained unchanged for the last 40k kilometer. Tires have been changed, the brakes have been fixed more than once, so I would think that it’s the wheel bearings.
My mechanic has driven it around and he doesn’t seem to be overly concerned, so I don’t know if I should be. It’s a bit annoying at times though.
What’s a CV boot?
[quote=“BAH”]Yeeeh, the water in the radiator is filmy looking. You say that could be a blown head gasket… this may sound really stupid, but what is a head gasket, where is it, and how do I tell it’s blown?
[/quote]
The head gasket is the seal between the head (or top of the engine), and the engine block. As far as I know, there isn’t any easy way for the layman to definitevely check this. There are some symptoms, like water in the oil, oil in the coolant, or white smoke from the tailpipe, but these are not definitive. I think your best bet is to take it to a shop and have it checked out at this point.
Anyone want to add to this, as I may have missed something. I’m more well versed with electrical/electronics, interior, and body than I am with engines and transmissions.
[quote=“Mr He”]It might just be something rubbing against the wheel. Tires have been changed, the brakes have been fixed more than once, so I would think that it’s the wheel bearings.
My mechanic has driven it around and he doesn’t seem to be overly concerned, so I don’t know if I should be. It’s a bit annoying at times though.
What’s a CV boot?[/quote]
A CV (Constant Velocity) Boot is a rubber boot for the CV Joints, found on just about any front wheel drive car. The CV joints are the joints near the front wheels that are covered by a cylindrical rubber accordion looking boot. When the boot tears or punctures, it allows dirt to get in, and the grease to come out. When this happens, over time, as the grease gets dirtier and more depleted, noise will start coming from the wheel area. But, it’s a thing that gets worse over time, so doesn’t sound like that’s the problem.
To test if it’s something rubbing against the wheel, you can jack the car up and turn the wheel with your hand, and see if you can get the sound to come out. If and when the sounds comes out, you should also feel for resistance when turning the wheel, and you can also get an idea for where it’s coming from through the “feel”, whether it’s something internal (like wheel bearings), or something external (like something rubbing).
Heck, it may even be something stupid like a lug nut that came off and is rattling around inside the hubcap. Again, it’s hard to say w/o actually hearing the sound myself.
If the mechanic has checked it out and says it’s ok, then it may very well be nothing but an annoyance.
Thanks for the advice. I will see what they say next time it’s up for its regular maintenance.
[quote=“BAH”]Yeeeh, the water in the radiator is filmy looking. You say that could be a blown head gasket… this may sound really stupid, but what is a head gasket, where is it, and how do I tell it’s blown?
I don’t know what this means, but sounds ominous.[/quote]
Someone please correct me if I’m wrong.
The head gasket is the gasket that sits between the head of the engine and the block. It’s just a thin sheet of RTV or paper or something like that, to create a seal between the head and block.
If the gasket develops a gap, then there’s no more seal. Hot gases can go out, other crap can come in. Your engine will quickly get hosed.
My Shadow had symptoms similar to what you describe just before it died horribly. I would get it looked at. IMHO it was a failing oil pump, but I could be wrong; the one mechanic who looked at it claimed it was a bad thermostat (and ripped me off for US$80 to change it out) – but the engine still overheated, and it turned out that he had (deliberately) disabled the temperature sensor so that it simply didn’t look like it wasn’t overheating any more (until one drove it long enough for smoke to start pouring out from under the hood).
Head gasket reference page, courtesy of Google:
supras.org.nz/techinfo/bhg.htm
I heard today not to use Formosa gas in my car. Something that Formosa adds to the gas that hurts your engine if you use it for a long time.
Does it cause knocking or something? I dunno!
Anyone else heard anything?
No, just marketing. I use formosa gas often, and the car is noisy whatever I use.
BTW the sounds from the front wheel of my car was a tyre, which wasnot round. Change of NT$1k tyre => no sounds. (Then there were a worn ball-bearing at the same wheel, but it was only NT$1800)
It’s true, formosa is full of hot air and gas, and his brain does rattle around in his skull.
[quote=“Ben”][quote=“BAH”]Yeeeh, the water in the radiator is filmy looking. You say that could be a blown head gasket… this may sound really stupid, but what is a head gasket, where is it, and how do I tell it’s blown?
[/quote]
The head gasket is the seal between the head (or top of the engine), and the engine block. As far as I know, there isn’t any easy way for the layman to definitevely check this. There are some symptoms, like water in the oil, oil in the coolant, or white smoke from the tailpipe, but these are not definitive. I think your best bet is to take it to a shop and have it checked out at this point.
Anyone want to add to this, as I may have missed something. I’m more well versed with electrical/electronics, interior, and body than I am with engines and transmissions.[/quote]
Open the radiator cap, start the car and rev it… if bubbles of air come out, then the HG is gone.
Older cars as I have seen them before always have traces of oil or gunk in the raditor fuel.
Also if you run the car for a period of time… the coolant will get bolied off and the car may start overheating… or worse the pressure from the air going into the coolant will burst a pipe
[quote=“Ben”][quote=“Mr He”]It might just be something rubbing against the wheel. Tires have been changed, the brakes have been fixed more than once, so I would think that it’s the wheel bearings.
My mechanic has driven it around and he doesn’t seem to be overly concerned, so I don’t know if I should be. It’s a bit annoying at times though.
What’s a CV boot?[/quote]
A CV (Constant Velocity) Boot is a rubber boot for the CV Joints, found on just about any front wheel drive car. The CV joints are the joints near the front wheels that are covered by a cylindrical rubber accordion looking boot. When the boot tears or punctures, it allows dirt to get in, and the grease to come out. When this happens, over time, as the grease gets dirtier and more depleted, noise will start coming from the wheel area. But, it’s a thing that gets worse over time, so doesn’t sound like that’s the problem.
To test if it’s something rubbing against the wheel, you can Jack the car up and turn the wheel with your hand, and see if you can get the sound to come out. If and when the sounds comes out, you should also feel for resistance when turning the wheel, and you can also get an idea for where it’s coming from through the “feel”, whether it’s something internal (like wheel bearings), or something external (like something rubbing).
Heck, it may even be something stupid like a lug nut that came off and is rattling around inside the hubcap. Again, it’s hard to say w/o actually hearing the sound myself.
If the mechanic has checked it out and says it’s ok, then it may very well be nothing but an annoyance.[/quote]
Also drive the car around in a figure of 8 and listen for knocking… Like Ben said I would check the CV joint and if broken fill it up with grease
Also I would turn the engine off, put it in neutral and let it roll down the hill and listen for the squeak.
One more thing I would try and rock the wheel of the car, when it is on the ground and when it is jacked up. When you have worn roller bearings you sometimes find a wheel that can be rocked a little
Thanks, but I got my roller bearings changed 2 weeks ago. You won’t believe it, the bloody car was quiet.
However it only took the mechanic 2 years to find it…
[quote=“Mr He”]Thanks, but I got my roller bearings changed 2 weeks ago. You won’t believe it, the bloody car was quiet.
However it only took the mechanic 2 years to find it…[/quote]
So it was the wheel bearings… I’m surprised it took the mechanic 2 years though.
Glad to hear it’s fixed now!
My car is old and it has tonnes of funny noises, but it still drives, with the best trip being last Sunday’s up to the snow. I get it checked on a monthly basis, and he finds something new, with a loose connection to one of the headlights being my biggest worry now.
The wheel bearing… He told me that it was the brake, and then he said that it didn’t needed to be changed. Then I yelled at him asking him to get that stuff torn off right away. He obliged, but was clearly not happy. 10 minutes later he came in and told me that my wheel bearings were worn…
Getting a car fixed here is interesting - to bad that you have to drive it afterwards.