Rotational Squeak

[dlacacres]

I have a very frustrating problem that is reoccuring now that the weather is getting warmer. This never happens cold, only in warm ambients of around 60F and above. It also only occurs after about 15-20 miles of driving. The vehicle will start a rotational squeak which is light in sound, not metallic. It doesn't change pitch during cornering, nor does it go away on braking. Brakes are good, rotors are fine, CV boots look wonderful. I am an experienced technician and I know what a bad hub bearing sounds like and what a failing CV joint sounds like. The interface between rotor and hub; hub face and wheel; and wheel cover and wheel have all had a light coat of lubricant applied to eliminate those as source items. This one has me stumped. I am fond of saying "If I can't find it now, it will be easy to find when the sound gets worse". Well...this is now the third year this has been happening, and it doesn't get any worse - it just gets on my nerves more.

The vehicle is a 2000 SW2, auto, 160K miles. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks.

[stevestar99]

Have you figured out whether it's coming from the front or back? .....

Here's one for you out of left field.. On my 95', I thought I had a bad rear wheel bearing.. On the hwy, you could hear the telltale sound of thump, thump, thump coming from the rear of the car.. The thumping was proportionate to vehicle's speed.. No doubt about it, "Bad Wheel Bearing" at least that's what I thought.. Once I got the car up on the jacks to see which side.. I couldn't find it.. I spun up both sides and it wouldn't do it.. But as I did have one side spun as fast as I could get it to go, I noticed that there was something funky about the tire.. It had a flat spot.. These were 80K Michelins.. There was still a whole lot of tread left.. I bought some el-cheap-o tires and no more thumping..

[stevestar99]

My guess would be, (1) slightly warped rotor or drum.. (2) Gummed up pad retaining pins

[dlacacres]

It appears to be coming from the front, but it's really hard to tell. I've ruled out the rotor/drum - there is no change to the noise during a braking event. I have thought about tires, because I have seen them do some really weird things. I've got 15 inch tires, and my other Saturns have 14's. I may swap them out to try that. Next time it happens, I'll be removing the wheel covers to eliminate that item. I'm hoping to find someone who has had this issue and resolved it.

[OldNuc]

Crawl under the car with a can of spray oil, not silicone or WD-40, and squirt the right hand transmission seal up under the dust cover on the intermediate shaft and the right axle seal at the other end of the intermediate shaft. If you can not find spray oil a squirt of ATF will do for a test. The inner CV axle seal at the intermediate shaft can make noises like that.

[dlacacres]

Thanks. That's what I was looking for. Would Fogging Oil work? Also, is this a short term solution, or will it stop the noise longer term - say, like until next spring?

[OldNuc]

Try fogging oil and see what happens. The one that usually causes the problem is the inner CV seal at the intermediate shaft. A squirt of oil fixes it for a long time but the real fix takes a bit more doing as you need to pull the inner CV out of the intermediate shaft to get at the inside of the seal.

[manualman]

I was thinking it could be the intermediate shaft bearing itself. Not the one at the tranny, but where the axle CV connects to the intermediate shaft. Mine squeeked like that and injecting some oil into holes on the bearing dust cover seems to have fixed it for 5k miles or so so far.

[OldNuc]

That bearing does not squeak, it sounds just like a bad wheel bearing.

[manualman]

Yes, I phrased it badly. I don't mean that a little oil will fix a bad bearing.

In my case, the squeek was certainly coming from that area and other posters noted a TSB about the seal drying out and making a squeak. Heck I could swear you posted on that one even. IIRC the oil fixes the squeeky seal, not the bearing itself.

It worked, anyways...

[manualman]

Here's the thread that helped me banish the squeak.

http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/sho...t=squeak+seal#

[OldNuc]

The final fix is to pull the axle, carefully clean the seal lips and lube with a good synthetic grease. While the axle is out fl the area behind the seal with a synthetic gear oil. Bearing will last and seal will not squeak at you.

[dlacacres]

I sprayed oil into the seal on both sides of the intermediate shaft support. So far...so good. It was a nice, warm day here in Michigan and I put about 60 miles on without that bothersome squeaking. Thanks!

[OldNuc]

Remember the final fix above...