TheSamba.com :: View topic - 73 Super

Tue Nov 10, 2009 10:55 am

Well it's been a year and one month since I got my first Beetle. I've been lucky and had VERY few problems. I replaced my MC with my Dad's help and my wheel cylinders last winter after my brakes went out. (oh yay!) My coils come loose and I needed a new battery, but I can't complain.

I went to visit a friend last week and on the way there I pulled over for a photo opt. Well the shoulder of the highway was more like a soggy ditch, and while I had no problem getting out of the ditch, it seems that picture I took may have cost me.

About 50 miles later I started to hear a knocking under my front pans. I got out and checked but other than some mud and grass stuck up around the edge of the back fender everything looked okay and there wasn't anything I could do right then anyway. It seemed intermittent, but I was doing 65-70mph on a highway, so who knows.

I decided to stay overnight at my friends so I could look at it in the morning and I seemed to have lost brake fluid, like almost the whole damn reservoir. Thank god I didn't try and drive home through the wooded area....in the dark, alone. So I filled it up and crossed my fingers on the 100 mile drive home stopping to check fluids every so often. The lines all looked good and the MC looked good, the WC are all less than a year old, and I had (and still have) great pressure and brakes, and no trouble stopping even 150 miles later.

I never leaked and BF again after the initial leak and refill, but as much as I'd like to think YAY, stuff doesn't magically leak then not leak. I think the line to my reservoir might be going?

But to my main question...Now I sound as if I have a chipmunk under my front right fender along with the thud-thud-thud I get a squeak too. My Muir book says it's a rod knocking, since it is most noticeable when I am coasting. My Dad says maybe a bearing.

I have it jacked now as I wanted to check my break pads n such before winter. All-in-all the car runs great. Always starts right up, and most problems I have with it are pretty much basic maintenance and/or driver error (MC blew when a drunk driver forced me to slam the crap out of my brakes to avoid collision for example, the battery in the car was around 10 years old, etc)

Since I am no mechanic but a geek with some books and the bug me vids, it's nice to know I may have found the problem, but uh....LoL....what rod is knocking what now? Can someone explain?

Advice would be great since I lost my job about two months ago and would rather NOT have to take it to my local vintage dub people. I can, but I'd rather not. That or my Dad can help, who is a mechanic, but he's got a lot going on over at his place, and I think his stupid Buick is apart in the garage. (WHAT a shocker)

PICS HERE: http://pics.livejournal.com/s8venus/gallery/00031e9s

Please don't judge my steel plate/jack on gravel driveway. I am aware of how unwise that was.

And I will be watching this thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=383409[/url]

Tue Nov 10, 2009 12:26 pm

Get it up to speed on a stretch of road where you won't piss anyone off by coasting for awhile. As said, get it to speed, then when it's making the noise, put the trans in neutral and shut the engine off, MAKE SURE TO TURN THE KEY BACK ON AFTER THE ENGINE QUITS, YOU DON"T WANT YOUR STEERING WHEEL TO LOCK! Then, with the engine off and the car coasting, if it still makes noise, it's not the engine.

Tue Nov 10, 2009 12:29 pm

Thanks Paul.

So when they say "rod knocking" they mean in the engine. LoL. I wasn't sure.

I'll put'er back together and give it a try today! Thanks!

And if it still makes the noise? How screwed am I?

Tue Nov 10, 2009 12:40 pm

If it still makes noise, you have to isolate the rest of the moving parts. The wheels are turning, in neutral only parts of the trans are moving, the cv / axleshafts are turning. My first instinct says to look for mud and grass inside the wheels. A wheel imbalance can cause lots of noise and vibration. Did the car make any of this noise prior to parking it in the ditch?

Tue Nov 10, 2009 12:42 pm

Nope no issues prior to the trip. However the trip consisted of my time in the ditch and driving on dirt roads through forested state parks. The first was an accident, the later was just not very wise of me in retrospect.

After the ditch I was doing 65mph+ and I only hear it at slower speeds. So if it started right after the ditch, I don't know. Very shortly after.

If I hold the clutch down and take my foot off the gas nothing changes. (I have yet to try your suggestion)

Tue Nov 10, 2009 12:44 pm

Then I would definitely look for mud/dirt/grass impacted in the wheels, tires, fenders and suspension components first. Wash off any that you find and re-evaluate.

EDIT: from the sounds of it BTW, your engine is ok. If the speed of the noise didn't change when you pushed in the clutch and let the engine idle, then it's not coming from the engine. That's good news, ain't it?!

Also look for rocks in various places, especially larger ones stuck in the treads of the tires.

Tue Nov 10, 2009 1:59 pm

Paul> thanks for all the input, ruling out the engine is important to my sanity and peace of mind. I love my car more than most people I know ;)

I think maybe my brakes were a little dirty. Haven't looked at the back ones. (I was babysitting and only got as much work done as I could during nap time)

Wow. The cage on my bearing was warped. Didn't notice it from the front side, but when I went to pack it....yeah.....not round, that's for sure.

$12 part. Excellent.

Tue Nov 10, 2009 4:15 pm

New bearing took away the THUD THUD THUD but left the incessant SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK

ArgH!

Tue Nov 10, 2009 5:28 pm

Keep checking for dirt/mud up in the shocks/struts and this may sound funny but after making sure the tire rim is clean (both sides, not just the hubcab side) have the tire rebalanced. An unbalanced tire will roll and bounce even at speed and may cause the noise to come from the shocks/struts.

Tue Nov 10, 2009 5:36 pm

Thanks Bill.

I would like to check the back brakes before I balance my tries. I'm not really feeling a shimmy or vibration. Isn't that what balancing is for (I could be wrong)?

Muir says a squealing distributor just needs grease, but it doesn't squeak when idling. Turning off the engine and driving in N doesn't change the squeak, braking only changes the squeak because the squeak depends how fast your going,.....I hope my tie rod isn't ready to implode or anything. I mean it's pretty loud, I feel like an ass when I pull up to a red light or stop sign. (keeps people from tailgating though, they're afraid something will implode too. Ha!)

If anyone knows, I'd be curious.....What would warp a bearing like that?

http://pics.livejournal.com/s8venus/pic/00233pp2

Tue Nov 10, 2009 11:10 pm

since you said you were driving on dirt roads is it possible that you got a little pebble stuck in your brakes?