Protege5 loud noise while driving... bearing / cv axle-tranny?

2002 Protege5 Automatic 161,000 miles Don't know if original CV axles (had car since around 88k)



This is my son's car but I do the work on it if he keeps up the grades. W/o boring you I will try to keep it short.

Car felt as if a tire was out of balance or about to come apart at the threads when driving causing a loud noise (boom boom boom boom).
(apparently this has been going on for a weeks)

The tires are good and CV axles SEEMED to be okay. It sounded like the noise was coming from the front right side. After checking a few things my neighbor and I figured it may be a wheel bearing and decided to take off hub assemble to check it. Couldn't get the axle nut off the front right so decided to soak the nut over night.

(next day)
I decided to lift the front left tire, keeping the right one on the ground, to make sure the noise was only happening on the right side. The noise happens on BOTH sides. I get my neighbor crank it up so he can hear the noise is coming from the left side. While I am giving it gas he tells me to stop. It turns out some transmission fluid leaked on the ground. UP TO THIS POINT THERE HAS BEEN NOT TRANSMISSION FLUID LEAKING.

We get under the car, turn the cv axle by hand and the right one seems have a slight lateral wobble and the left did not seem super tight. I DON'T BELIEVE IT WAS THIS "LOOSE" WHEN I CHECKED IT THE DAY BEFORE. (is that possible or did I just not notice it???)
Again I start the car up and slowly give it gas transmission fluid leaks again. I BELIEVE IT LEAKED WHEN THE CAR WAS SHIFTING GEARS and the shift was rough AFTER I had it in the garage to check it out...in other words the leaking is NEW - JUST STARTED while it is jacked up in the garage. . My neighbor believes the seal (where the cv axle goes into transmission seems to be where the transmission fluid is coming from.

I am about to take off the left wheel (hope the axle nut is cooperative) and check the leak AND try to see if we can find out what is causing the noise.

Does anyone have any insight as to what could be going on?

Bearings replace both at same time

what kind of loud noise is it? does the steering wheel shake or anything while driving? couple years ago i was experiencing something similar to this from the sounds of it. spent around 1500$ on different "fixes" i was told was wrong with it. Come to find out it was the damn cv joint.

btw might want to move to correct thread...might help in answers

The noise/feel reminds me of a tire out of balance that is about to blow (had that happen to me at 65 mph - memorable). The noise gets louder and fast as your speed up. You can feel the vibration in the cab and through your feet. I was also wondering if whatever caused the noise could of triggered the transmission leak.
I want to check out the bearings and cv axles but both of the axle nut are seized and no luck in removing them thus far (I posted axle dilema on another thread:

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123746487-How-To-Wheel-Bearing-Replacement/page4 entry #46

I am not forum savy, kinda ignorant as far as knowing how and which area to post on. I will if someone can guide me in the right direction.

if you've never replaced the bearings you might as well do that cause they'll probably go soon anyway. my fronts went at about 160k miles, now at 205k miles my rears are going. If they're bad there will probably be some play in the wheel. for example, if you jack the car up with the wheel on and all lugs tight, you can shake the wheel back and forth a little bit. Also swap the front and rear tires, if it goes away you can eliminate tires from the list. I've had "good" tires that made that type of noise after wearing a little. My axles wobble too...maybe its normal?

Moved.

I checked the car in gear/wheels off ground and no wheels (hub/rotor) spinning to make sure it wasn't tires causing the problem...

Got lost on post #7 - it says Moved. does that mean this was moved to the "proper" thread and if so how do I go there?

Get a stethoscope and put it on the hub, then turn it you will hear it if the wheel bearing is bad.

If its leaking trans fluid and it had a rough shift it should have made you wonder how long it's been leaking, you should Atleast check the fluid level to make sure your not runing it without fluid

trea's 5 said:

2002 Protege5 Automatic 161,000 miles Don't know if original CV axles (had car since around 88k)


It turns out some transmission fluid leaked on the ground. UP TO THIS POINT THERE HAS BEEN NOT TRANSMISSION FLUID LEAKING.

Click to expand...

I have a seized and cracked front wheel bearing.. when I took it to the shop they said there is a tranny fluid leak as well

Does anyone have any insight as to what could be going on?

letsroll said:

I have a seized and cracked front wheel bearing.. when I took it to the shop they said there is a tranny fluid leak as well

Does anyone have any insight as to what could be going on?

Click to expand...

You have a bad wheel bearing and a transmission leak. What else do you want to know? The problems are not likely related.

MrGiggles said:

You have a bad wheel bearing and a transmission leak. What else do you want to know? The problems are not likely related.

Click to expand...

the seized bearing could have caused the cv axle to slide out of the transmission some. the cv axle spins the bearing which causes rotation. if the bearing seizes it could cause the cv joint to bust or the cv axle to pop out of place. friction and force are a b****.

^^^

I agree. Transmission fluid will leak out of the axles when you replace them so I would say the leak is caused by the bad axle. I would replace the axels and bearings. When my rear bearing went out they were very loud.

bearings usually make a loud crunching or whining/whirling sound when failing cv axles will usually make a popping sound when failing and will usually only make the noise or show issues while turning (but not always)

I've never seen a wheel bearing seize completely or harm an axle. They will spin inside and begin to wear into the hub when the balls seize. The axles have clips that hold them in the trans that are usually pretty hard to remove. The way these axles are made, the inboard end has to come completely off the splines for the seal to be lost. CV axles usually break at the outboard end too.

Not saying it's impossible, but just unlikely that the two are cause and effect.

it can happen, if you neglect a bad bearing long enough it can seize the entire assembly though it is rare

kms1990 said:

the seized bearing could have caused the cv axle to slide out of the transmission some. the cv axle spins the bearing which causes rotation. if the bearing seizes it could cause the cv joint to bust or the cv axle to pop out of place. friction and force are a b****.

Click to expand...

Thanks ! You are so right friction and force are a b**** and you have confirmed what I was afraid of.
The shop didn't say the cv axle was bad... is it easy to tell ? (to make sure they get the problem the first time)
I believe the siezed (and split) may did a lot of damage the wheel did coming to a grinding halt on a free way.
The rim was to hot to touch due to the friction and the grinding was so bad i had no choice but to tow it.


Mr. Giggles in case you missed the point of the posts it was clearly stated in both cases that the tranny leaks happened after the bearing seized.

letsroll said:

I have a seized and cracked front wheel bearing.. when I took it to the shop they said there is a tranny fluid leak as well

Does anyone have any insight as to what could be going on?

Click to expand...

I was only making an inference based on what you stated in this post, which says nothing about the leak happening after the bearing seizure, or the fact that the bearing seized up on the freeway, both of which would have been pertinent information.

letsroll said:

Thanks ! You are so right friction and force are a b**** and you have confirmed what I was afraid of.
The shop didn't say the cv axle was bad... is it easy to tell ? (to make sure they get the problem the first time)
I believe the siezed (and split) may did a lot of damage the wheel did coming to a grinding halt on a free way.
The rim was to hot to touch due to the friction and the grinding was so bad i had no choice but to tow it.


Mr. Giggles in case you missed the point of the posts it was clearly stated in both cases that the tranny leaks happened after the bearing seized.

Click to expand...

Regardless, if the mechanic finds the leak to be coming from the axle seal, now would be the time to replace it while he's doing the wheel bearing. Half the job is removing the axle itself.

If it is an automatic, there is also a chance that the fluid overheated and was pushed out of the vent.

letsroll said:

Thanks ! You are so right friction and force are a b**** and you have confirmed what I was afraid of.
The shop didn't say the cv axle was bad... is it easy to tell ? (to make sure they get the problem the first time)
I believe the siezed (and split) may did a lot of damage the wheel did coming to a grinding halt on a free way.
The rim was to hot to touch due to the friction and the grinding was so bad i had no choice but to tow it.


Mr. Giggles in case you missed the point of the posts it was clearly stated in both cases that the tranny leaks happened after the bearing seized.

Click to expand...

as MrGiggles stated above replace it now while the bearing is being replaced it will save labor later. plus with that bearing failing the way it did it most likely screwed something in that cv axle up. usually popping while turning is a sign of a bad cv axle but grinding and whining can be as well.

kms1990 said:

with that bearing failing the way it did it most likely screwed something in that cv axle up.

Click to expand...

when the shop replaced the bearing I had the cv checked out it was perfectly fine !

the bearing failing the way it screwed the rotor & pads so I had to replace the front brakes and decided to do a brake upgrade (2007 Mazda6)