humming/howling/whining noise. help!

[targis58]

I 've been having this noise problem for almost three month and it's getting a little bit more louder lately . I didn't want to believe this is the rear wheel bearing problem because those were serviced/replaced about 8000 miles ago.(they should last much much more than that right?) Reading thru some threads posted here I believe it is the bearing problem. It s very noticible when I reach 30mph and more. I think it s coming from the back but listening from inside of the van, it sounds like it s coming from every where underneath the van. The front bearings were done recently when doing wheel alignment. When I put the stick in neutral position or push in the clutch and let the van glide, it still makes the noise but more noticibly because of quiter engine noise. I tried shaking the rear wheels on the air and noticed a little bit of play on both wheels but I am not sure if it IS the "play" that some of you have mentioned. I am going to go back to the mechanic who worked on my van and complain about the problem but wanted to make sure that I am right about it. Looking underneath the engine bay I noticed passenger side axle shaft going into transmission is wet/greasy. Driver side of the axle on transmission looked dry. If the passenger side of the shaft on transmission was bad/leaking or whatever , whould it make the same noise? And what s envoled to fix that?

This is the driverside axle on transmission. looking dry

This is the passenger side axle on transmission. looking more greasy

Thanks in advance for your input...

Allen with 90 westy 2wd
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90 westy 2wd w/ TBD

[MarkWard]

Bummer, I would not go in complaining until you have your diagnosis. Remember the differential and pinion are also supported on bearings. They are spinning just like the wheel bearings. Let the shop take it on a test drive, go with them and point out the noise. If they are experienced they should be able to guess at the sound. Next step will be to raise up the rear and spin one rear tire at at time. If a wheel bearing is making the noise you can usually feel it in the housing. Excess side play is also a good indicator. Check the invoice to see what was actually charged out. It is possible that the bearings were only cleaned and repacked if there were no signs of obvious wear. Good luck.
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[levi]

Is the sound constant, or does it come and go?
With a rear bearing, say you're cruising in neutral down a slight hill at 30 mph or so, you should get a very noticeable shift in noise as you go from dead straight, to slight left turn/slight right turn.

The pics of grease around the axle at the tranny could be the seal gone at the tranny, or from cv grease at the joint. Probably from that seal. Not a great big deal, lot's of vanagons look just like that, let's a little of the trans gear oil out.

If it is from the rear bearing it can go for months, just getting louder.
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[targis58]

[targis58]

[Timwhy]

Yes it seems that it costs that much at that garage. I too had bad bearings in the rear and got a quote from Midas over just over $600,

Went for a second opinion. Still bad bearings but would cost less for a quote. Ended up paying $450.

One of the bearings is considerably more expensive per side, I want to say inner bearing but not 100% sure. I lucked out only one of the more expensive bearing was shot. If both had been, it would have been closer to the $600 from the first quote.

Half of the bill is labor, not much you can do about this. Unless you do the work yourself. Good luck.

On a side note I asked the garage to apply more grease to the new CV's on the bearing housing side. Thinking that if the old bearing were shot that the wheel spinning may pull some grease out of them if there was nothing but dried up grease in the bearing housing. If nothing else they just gave my CV's something extra to keep the turning strong.
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'15 Audi A3 Quattro
'09 VW Tiguan (dead)
'87 VW Westy
'91 Tin Top
'90 Cabby
What the Westy wants the Westy GETS


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[MarkWard]