Clicking from left front

Discussion in 'General Motoring' started by carbide, Jul 16, 2006.

  1. carbide

    carbide Guest

    I know this is a long shot, but I thought I'd ask...

    Vehicle is a Plymouth Grand Voyager with about 100K miles. I recently
    noticed a clicking coming from the vicinity of the left front wheel
    starting at about 50 mph. It seems to be at the speed the wheel
    rotates, so my first thought was a nail in the tire, second was a CV
    joint.

    I jacked up the front end and took a look- the boots on the CV joints
    are good, rotating the tire by hand I couldn't see or hear anything
    unusual. Lug nuts are tight. I pried a few bits of gravel out of the
    tread (month old tires, lotsa tread), didn't find any nails.

    So I'm stumped. It's hard to troubleshoot something that only appears
    above 50 mph.

    Any ideas?
    -Paul
     
    carbide, Jul 16, 2006
    #1
  2. carbide

    philthy Guest

    how fast can u run???
    jack up that side and grab the wheel at the top and bottom then see if it
    moves that way if it does then there is a good chance you have a bad
    wheel bearing
    did you inspect the brakes good??
     
    philthy, Jul 18, 2006
    #2
  3. carbide

    Phil T Guest

    If you have cast aluminum wheels then ignore the rest of this.

    Try removing the hub cap/ wheel cover and then see if the noise is still
    there.

    Could well be a CV joint or wheel bearing. But could also be due to
    some flex in the plastic wheel cover, or flex in the tire sidewall at 50
    mph that is rubbing on the wheel cover.

    This is what has happened on my Intrepid. Clicks like crazy with the
    wheel cover in place; no click when the wheel cover is removed. It only
    cost me a replacement half-shaft to learn that the clicking wasn't
    coming from the CV joints (since the sound was still there after the
    replacement).

    Phil
     
    Phil T, Jul 18, 2006
    #3
  4. carbide

    carbide Guest

    OK, that's easy enough to check. I'll remove the wheel cover and drive
    it tomorrow.
    -Paul
     
    carbide, Jul 18, 2006
    #4
  5. carbide

    carbide Guest

    Thanks for the suggestions. I did check the wheel for play, and looked
    at the visible part of the brake disc. No play in the wheel. I don't
    feel anything thru the steering wheel either.
    -Paul
     
    carbide, Jul 18, 2006
    #5
  6. carbide

    carbide Guest

    Now this is strange- I drove it without the plastic wheel cover and it
    did it one more time then stopped. It seems to be gone. I'll try
    replacing the wheel cover now, but I think what ever it was, it's gone.
    Thanks for the suggestion.
    -Paul
     
    carbide, Jul 19, 2006
    #6
  7. carbide

    Phil T Guest

    That's weird Paul. Keep us posted.

    Phil
     
    Phil T, Jul 20, 2006
    #7
  8. carbide

    carbide Guest

    I put the wheel cover back on, and the clicking is still gone. I don't
    know what it was, but I'm sure glad it wasn't something serious.
    -Paul
     
    carbide, Jul 22, 2006
    #8
  9. carbide

    Bill Putney Guest

    Umm - a rock that was trapped - you removed the wheel cover - the rock
    hit one more time then fell out - you put the cover back on - no more noise.

    Bill Putney
    (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
    address with the letter 'x')
     
    Bill Putney, Jul 22, 2006
    #9
  10. carbide

    carbide Guest

    There was nothing loose under the wheel cover. One of the first things
    I did was take it off and look it over carefully, including checking
    each lug nut for tightness.

    I'm guessing it was something like a stick in the brake area, which is
    hard to see without removing the wheel. The clicking would start at 50
    mph, so I'm thinking centrifugal force at that speed caused it to start
    hitting something once with each revolution of the wheel.

    I couldn't feel anything unusual thru the steering wheel, nor did
    braking affect the noise.
    I'm just glad it went away without costing me a fortune. ;-)
    -Paul
     
    carbide, Jul 23, 2006
    #10
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