Whinin' & Moanin' '88 240

[Michael Cerkowski]

In really cold weather, this car is producing a medium-pitched whine,
with occasional harmonics, until it gets to 45mph. It stops when the car
has been driven far enough to warm everything up. It's not the engine,
and is entirely road-speed dependent, although it will vary in volume
and pitch. My housemate has known about it for two years, but I just
discovered it - I've been the one starting and driving it in really cold
weather. I wish I were as oblivious as she is about this stuff.

So...carrier bearing? Wheel bearing(s)? Transmission? (no!) There is
no vibration, just a whine like a truck.

--






http://www.albany.net/~mjc1/index.html

 

[Michael Cerkowski]

No ideas?

"Michael Cerkowski

In really cold weather, this car is producing a medium-pitched whine,
with occasional harmonics, until it gets to 45mph. It stops when the car
has been driven far enough to warm everything up. It's not the engine,
and is entirely road-speed dependent, although it will vary in volume
and pitch. My housemate has known about it for two years, but I just
discovered it - I've been the one starting and driving it in really cold
weather. I wish I were as oblivious as she is about this stuff.

So...carrier bearing? Wheel bearing(s)? Transmission? (no!) There is
no vibration, just a whine like a truck.

--






http://www.albany.net/~mjc1/index.html

 

[Joachim Østberg]

Drive train?

 

[Perry Noid]

next time you hear the mystery sound, try changing the temp setting on the
heater control... Sometimes on my '89 240, I get a sound that appears to be
flow-related when I have my heat on (obviously, in cold weather). Unlikely,
but easy to check for!

m9876c at yahoo dot com

 

[eCaVeMaN]

next time you hear the mystery sound, try changing the temp setting on the
heater control... Sometimes on my '89 240, I get a sound that appears to be
flow-related when I have my heat on (obviously, in cold weather). Unlikely,
but easy to check for!

m9876c at yahoo dot com

Did you ever find out what it is? I just started to have it intermittently
on my '87 240!


eCaVeMaN

 

[Tim McNamara]

In really cold weather, this car is producing a medium-pitched
whine, with occasional harmonics, until it gets to 45mph. It stops
when the car has been driven far enough to warm everything up. It's
not the engine, and is entirely road-speed dependent, although it
will vary in volume and pitch. My housemate has known about it for
two years, but I just discovered it - I've been the one starting and
driving it in really cold weather. I wish I were as oblivious as she
is about this stuff.

So...carrier bearing? Wheel bearing(s)? Transmission? (no!) There
is no vibration, just a whine like a truck.

Perry Noid (nice!) wrote about the infamous whistle related to the
heater system. That stops momentarily when you adjust the temperature
control, but there is some speed-dependence to the pitch. Drove me
nuts when I drove my 240 in the winter for the first time. "What's
that noise!?!?!?"

The driveshaft bearing will continue to make the noise if you pop into
neutral and coast, unlike transmission noise. That could help isolate
that (at least with an automatic- dunno whether that would work with a
manual). Wheel bearings often sound different turning one way or the
other.

 

[Mike F]

Perry Noid (nice!) wrote about the infamous whistle related to the
heater system. That stops momentarily when you adjust the temperature
control, but there is some speed-dependence to the pitch. Drove me
nuts when I drove my 240 in the winter for the first time. "What's
that noise!?!?!?"

The driveshaft bearing will continue to make the noise if you pop into
neutral and coast, unlike transmission noise. That could help isolate
that (at least with an automatic- dunno whether that would work with a
manual). Wheel bearings often sound different turning one way or the
other.

Yes, sounds like hanger bearing noise symptoms to me too.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

NOTE: new address!!
Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)

 

[Michael Cerkowski]

Yes, sounds like hanger bearing noise symptoms to me too.

I've been following the responses on a browser that can no longer post to
usenet.
I'm skeptical of the heater valve, because my bat-like ears tell me that
this is a bearing
noise of some sort, and involves too much mass to be a whistling pipe or
valve. Still,
I'll try what was suggested when next I drive the car, on Friday. The
carrier bearing
seems the most likely culprit; I just wasn't sure that it would display that
much noise,
do it only in very cold weather, do it for several years, and still not
vibrate...


--






http://www.albany.net/~mjc1/index.html