Cant figure out noise!

D

discodog62

Member
Hello all. I have a 2003 Mazda Protege 5. There is a noise coming from the passenger side. I can feel it in the floor board. The noise gets louder when your turn the steering wheel when the freeway bends right or left. First I thought it was a wheel bearing. So I took it to a mechanic and they checked it out with a stethoscope and said it was not my wheel bearings.

I am thinking it is that shaft between the motor and the front wheel. I guess that is the half shaft. It seems like something is off balance. When driving on surface streets you cant really notice the sound.

Has anyone experience anything like this or have an idea of what to check/test?


Thanks in advance!
 
could be the intermediate shaft...but could be bad tire brakes struts(though struts usually shake)
 
Thanks! I will look into that. I goggled and found some pics. That is the part I was thinking it could be. Is there a bearing in the bracket that holds the joint shaft that could be making the noise?

Just to add some more info. The sound gets very noticeable going 70+ MPH.
 
as far as i know you have to replace the intermediate shaft which is 240? if i recall correctly. had to do mine like 6 months ago
 
no your all wrong! lol I just had the same problem. Noise is only when going straight or turning (in my case left), gets really bad at highway speeds, and even lower speeds as it got worse.

I just did an engine swap, we thought it was a diff bearing. We also shook the front end and put a stethoscope on the hub; found nothing. When the motor was out I ripped apart the trans expecting to find a mangled pass diff bearing. The noise/hum/vibration was still there after a different engine and trans.
I just did the pass wheel bearing yesterday, noise is gone. Believe me when I say its your wheel bearing.

To be sure just wait for it to get worse. I drove on mine for probably 8 months before it was swap time, and completely unbearable.
 
Teeson said:
no your all wrong! lol I just had the same problem. Noise is only when going straight or turning (in my case left), gets really bad at highway speeds, and even lower speeds as it got worse.

I just did an engine swap, we thought it was a diff bearing. We also shook the front end and put a stethoscope on the hub; found nothing. When the motor was out I ripped apart the trans expecting to find a mangled pass diff bearing. The noise/hum/vibration was still there after a different engine and trans.
I just did the pass wheel bearing yesterday, noise is gone. Believe me when I say its your wheel bearing.

To be sure just wait for it to get worse. I drove on mine for probably 8 months before it was swap time, and completely unbearable.
Click to expand...

Obviously you've never seen what happens when on gives and locks up...
 
tweety2300 said:
Obviously you've never seen what happens when one gives and locks up...
Click to expand...

fixed!
and I don't mean wait til it falls off. I mean wait till it gets a little louder then try the stethoscope test again. Mine had to get really bad before the wheel bearing had play, I obviously don't recommend leaving it for too long.
 
You can't sit there and assume your right, none of us can. We aren't in front of the car the OP is. So all we can do is try and assist
 
i was being sarcastic... wheres that pink font?

I apologise for claiming I was right and how that came across, but I just spent 8 months dealing with an issue with the same symtoms, had me and a tech fooled, and took engine swap to reveal the problem. I just trying to avoid him going through replacing half his front end when its a hard to diagnos wheel bearing.
My advice is just that advice, anything you learn from the internet (and even most people) should be taken with a grain of salt. But this is why we have forums, people with the same interests and cars can help each other out.
/rant
 
Last edited:
It took awhile to figure out my wheel bearing was gone too. It really just sounded like a lot of road noise from the tires
 
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