Hum/Growl While Driving - Felt in Gas Pedal Too

[NP SHO]

I've noticed over the past couple of days that there seems to be this hum/growl noise while I'm driving. I can feel a faint vibration in the gas pedal also.

At first I thought it might be an axle or wheel bearing, but I noticed today that if I push in the clutch while it happens it goes away. As soon as I let the clutch out again it comes back.

I've had a growling noise in the beginning of first and second gear since I got the car last year. Am I looking at a trans or clutch or something? I don't know much about clutches or transaxles. Anyone have any input? Any suggestions are appreciated.

Oh, and I'm the third owner of the car. It has 144K on it and as far as I know this could very well be the original trans and clutch in the car. Thanks again.

 

[NP SHO]

So I drove it a little more today and found that it still makes the sound when I push in the clutch, it just doesn't seem as loud. Maybe an axle or wheel bearing? How do I check an axle?

 

[Bob Gervais]

Does the pitch or sound change when you're accelerating or decelerating?

To check wheel bearings: Jack the car up, grab the tire at 12 and 6, and check for movement. It helps if you can talk someone into watching the back side of the tire to see what's moving.

To check axles: Check the boots for physical damage such as cuts or splits. Look for CV grease that may have been flung around from a torn boot. Grab the joint housing in one hand, and the shaft in the other, and twist in opposite directions. There should be little to no play. The inboard joints are a floating design, so a little bit of axial movement is acceptable. The outboard joints are fixed, there should be little to no axial movement.

 

[NP SHO]

Thanks Bob. I'll have to check it out a little later today. I'll have to pay attention to it on the way home from work this morning to see if the pitch changes. What would that mean if it does?

 

[thekunceness]

Another thing you might want to consider checking on is your timing belt and/or cover. I had to lay my 91 to rest cause the the rear camshaft did something weird... anyway, i heard that hum, felt the vibration, pushed clutch in to start pulling over, it quit, let clutch out to start goin again, and it sounded like someone pouring small pebbles into a plastic bucket.. I didn't know at the time, but my timing belt was too tight, and finally broke the cam sprocket off the cam shaft.

Just an idea that you might want to check out your timing belt cover/area to be safe. (Like I said, I had to lay my car to rest cause of it!)

Good Luck

 

[NP SHO]

After some more playing around with it, I realized that the sound does NOT go away when I push in the clutch. It seems to be present when I'm going straight, worse when I turn left, and not so bad when I turn right. I finally had time today to jack it up and this is what I found on the passenger's side...

Gonna try to grab a new axle today. This should be the problem, right?

 

[NP SHO]

I ordered up a new axle. I'm having a friend of my fiance's family do the work this coming Saturday. I'm realizing now just how many of my tools I still have to pick up from my parents' house. It irritates the crap out of me having to pay someone else to work on my car, but luckily he's only charging me $40 to change the axle and do the oil change (with me providing the axle, oil and filter). This should be the source of the irritating humming sound as I'm driving, right?

 

[NP SHO]

Took it to my fiance's mechanic (he's a friend of her family) to have the axle replaced today. He called me this morning after looking at it and said the wheel bearing was shot too. I told him to go ahead and replace it. Picked it up this afternoon. Cost me $150 for the labor to replace the axle, the wheel bearing, labor to replace the wheel bearing, an oil change and balance the tires. I thought that was a pretty good deal. Picked it up and he told me the carrier bearing was going bad and would have to be replaced soon. Left the garage and got about 5 miles away and it stopped going in any gear. I called him up and he came out to where I broke down and took a look at it. He said the carrier bearing went and it would have to go back to the shop. He's going to get the bearing Monday afternoon and he said he should have it done Monday evening. Of course it had to downpour while all of this was going on. Got it back to the shop and hopefully I'll have it back Monday night. Guess I'm driving my fiance's Hyundai Accent to work on Monday. FML