Strange noise after replacing split drive shaft! .. Help!

[kendog]

Hi All,

After spending about $1200 on a major-ish service, I went to drive to work the next day & bang-crunch, khhkhh-hkh! It turned out to be a split drive shaft.

Since getting the car back, I have noticed a weird noise coming from the front left hand side.
- It seems to be at wheel speed, definitely not engine speed/revs,
- Is easier to be noticed when not accelerating (when not revving engine/engine rev noise dies down),
- most noticeable at about 45-55km/h,
- same noise whether clutch in or not, in gear or neutral, noise seems the same.

All's I know about the repair, is that they 'reconditioned my old (outer?) shaft with a new yoke', if that makes sense. The repairer is a long way from me & I can't just go there at lunch & get him to take a look.

I have usually found good advice from members on this forum, who've had previous experiences and are great at narrowing down of ideas & known issues. I hope someone out there can help me!! Many thanks in advance guys!!

[type 17]

Does the noise change as you swerve, chances are you ****ed your bearing and or hub with the shaft.

[Jmac]

Hmm little vague, only thing i see here is the noise wasnt there before repair and is there post repair. What sort of noise?? The info on the noise will help a lot here. The Cv joint would no doubt have to be knocked out of the hub carrier and may have upset a once before happy wheel bearing but may have woken a sleeping giant, can show up a bad bearing after a repair, check if the hib nut and wheel nits are tight for a start mate. And let us know what type of noise you hear
Jmac

[kendog]

I've tried to test, but having the noise audible, while having the room to swerve, and not having other noises override it, is hard.


- k
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kendog]

Sorry, I just didn't know how to explain the sound in words. I guess it's kind of like vrvrvrv.... vrvrvrv.... vrvrvrv.... vrvrvrv.... Getting faster with speed. Like a frog in a drain, only repeating much faster.

[kendog]

... The Cv joint would no doubt have to be knocked out of the hub carrier and may have upset a once before happy wheel bearing but may have woken a sleeping giant, can show up a bad bearing after a repair, ...

Hey Jmac, What did you mean by woken a sleeping giant ?

---------- Post added 16-05-2012 at 11:33 AM ---------- Previous post was 15-05-2012 at 10:25 PM ----------

Hey Jmac, What did you mean by woken a sleeping giant ?

don't worry I got it in the light of day, I thought you meant something bigger.

On the way to work, I'm trying to notice it on swerves, which is hard in Sydney in peak hour, but so far I haven't noticed anything really different.

Not 100% sure, but it's maybe the bearing as I think the speed frequency of the noise is slower than the wheels would be turning, but definitely in sync with them. Maybe like 1x 'vrvrvrv' to every 2x turns of the wheel on the road? Dodgy bearing?

[type 17]

lol hilarious but yes it sounds like a bearing, cv's make one hell of a racket, and bearings make a droney humming kinda noise,
if you swerve you should hear the pitch of the bearing change, that or youve got a bent rim or flat spots on yours tyres.
torque up your nuts to 115Nm and a half turn and put as much air in your tyres as recomended plus five psi, then get the tyres really hot, it will sort out any mild flat spots. if the noise is still there or becoming more obvious the it is likely the bearing

[Jmac]

Yeah what i meant was the bearing might have been tired but after it has been disturbed, ie when the driveshaft was removed for repair it might have been tight on the splines and it may have had some force put on it on removal, not uncommon. Definately thinking wheel bearing too.

cheers
Jmac

[dylan8]

wonder if its the same as mine...

[theOctopus]

Yeah I'm thinking I have the same too, mines coming from the newly replaced cv side.

[type 17]

dylan, yours sounds like a bent strut

[kendog]

lol hilarious but yes it sounds like a bearing, cv's make one hell of a racket, and bearings make a droney humming kinda noise,
if you swerve you should hear the pitch of the bearing change, that or youve got a bent rim or flat spots on yours tyres.
torque up your nuts to 115Nm and a half turn and put as much air in your tyres as recomended plus five psi, then get the tyres really hot, it will sort out any mild flat spots. if the noise is still there or becoming more obvious the it is likely the bearing

Yeah what i meant was the bearing might have been tired but after it has been disturbed, ie when the driveshaft was removed for repair it might have been tight on the splines and it may have had some force put on it on removal, not uncommon. Definately thinking wheel bearing too.

cheers
Jmac

Thanks heaps guys for your input! Yeah, after driving it around a few extra blocks on the way home tonight, I feel it's the bearing too, now what to do or where to take it... and hope it's nothing worse!

[kendog]

Yep, confirmed. I took it to 2 places yesterday, both took it for a drive and confirmed passenger side wheel bearing. I took it to Roseberry Steering and UltraTune Alexandria.

Both had very similar prices, of around $250 for one side + parts. I ended up going with UltraTune as their whole operation made me feel confident of leaving my car there. Clean, neat workshop, clear, well spoken, happy people, a very neat Audi TT customer rocking up there, said he'd get the parts from where I would've, and how much he'd add on. He'll also call me if the first one seems easy/cheap & I choose if I want to do the drivers side one.

It all seemed very honest and helpful. Fingers crossed, see how it goes...

[type 17]

do both sides. loading on a damaged one will cause wear on the other side too.

[kendog]

do both sides. loading on a damaged one will cause wear on the other side too.

Yeah, I wasn't sure what to do there, I've just spent $1700 on timing belt, water pump, rocker cover gasket, oil & filter, thermostat & housing, coolant, split drive shaft, tow truck, etc. I was really trying to keep the costs down as the clutch is apparently on the way out too. If I get both bearings done and the clutch soon, that's another $1700! So that's $3400 in under 2 months! I know it'll probably be absolutely great after that for a very long time, but I already want to upgrade to a gti...